Blind Justice
by alibradragon
Summary: Everyone has their reasons for doing what they think is right. Sometimes they just never realize that what they do has consequences in the end. It begins with the resurrection of Kazuya Mishima. -Finale up-
1. Prologue

**Nero**: Well, I'm sure most of you have forgotten me. I wrote this one ancient Tekken story that I deleted in great shaaaame. Sort of. I thought it was adorable, but I wouldn't finish it because…well that's my own reasons! Tis a brand spankin' new year. Okay, not really it's more than half way over and I definitely wanted to re-write the fanfic, with some name changes, new characters and all that jazz!

**Disclaimer**: I, Nero, do NOT own Tekken or its characters. They're copyrighted to Namco. I only own the characters that look like they do not belong, specifically characters that you don't exist in the Tekken world.

**(More) Author's notes**: I'm probably going to begin covering the events in Tekken 4 and then onward. The time skips will be apparent, I'll notify you of them.

_Blind Justice_

_By: Nero (souslalune) _

_Part One: Prologue_

"Sir! Sir! We've found something on one of our research missions!" a voice began, almost stumbling into the brightly lit laboratory, lab coat frayed and a clipboard's papers trailing behind him. One paper remained clutched tightly in his palm as he stopped the desk and bowed quickly.

"What did you find, Endo?"

"Well, according to this research data at Mt. Shirane….we've found human remains—a, a body, Kawamura-sachou."

"Inside a _volcano_?!"

"Yes sir. It's right here on this piece of paper." the paper with an attached photo slid across the desk and Kawamura, seated in the leather chair collected it and skimmed over it. "My God…Hideki was _right _about continuing work here….I called him crazy for going on a gut feeling when dealing with biogenetic research but…" A stern expression crossed his features. "Do we know anything about these remains?"

"N-no sir…we will continue conducting the research and—" the other man, Endo, began adjusting his glasses and coat but doing nothing to fix his appearance.

"I want Sato Hideki to head this research. Have his staff come back in and collect him. Go with his staff on a first class flight to the Iwate-Hanamaki airport immediately." Kawamura continued.

"What about the human remains?" the other man asked again.

"Get the body to the research facility in Nebraska immediately. Work on bringing it back to life."

"Ka—Kawamura-sachou!" Endo started to say.

"This is a feat that G Corporation can handle without any problems. Get to work _immediately_, and remember to inform Sato Hideki of all of the details. Do **not **fail me, Endo. I don't have any problems making you fodder for my newer experiments."

"Y-Yes sir!"

Endo scurried out of the office, collecting his scattered papers as Kawamura leaned back in his chair, hands folded and his lips pursed.

"Could…could those remains be…" he trailed off. "**No**. They **couldn't** be."

~*~

"In order to master the art of Taido, you mustn't rely on a single extension!" a thick voice bellowed, feet pacing around the wooden floors of a dojo, "Use your _entire_ body!"

A young girl sank to her knees, doubled over as she tried catching her breath. Stray strands of dark brown colored hair hung in her face and half lidded hazel colored eyes were focused on the steadily cracking wood and her vision started to blur.

"Otousan…_can't_…" she began, her chest burning. Non stop for a good ten to fifteen minutes she had been engaged in a friendly sparring match.

"Kaiya Sato!" the elder man began, "Are you going to tell your opponent this while they're beating you into the ground?!"

Sato Kaiya looked up at her father, exhaustion and frustration etched into her features, "Dad…I don't think there will come a time where I'll be getting into a fair fight with someone—"

"Stand up. We're going to resume your training!" her father continued, his steely brown eyes narrowing at his daughter. Such actions weren't tolerated here. He may have seemed harsh, but his intentions were good. They always had been good. "If you're going to do any kind of damage to your opponent, you need to master your balance and the way your body tilts!"

Sato Hideki watched as his daughter got to her feet and switched back into her stance, her chest still rising and falling having been trying to get back to its steady rate. He got back into a stance that mirrored hers, although it was much more perfected and well rounded. Years of practice was what it took. Unfortunately, Hideki believed that he wouldn't have years and years to teach Kaiya. Already her heart was only halfway in it, and it was unlikely that through college she would continue to train and perfect her own skills. He wanted to keep the art of Taido going in his family, and costs were tight. There was no point in owning and operating a dojo. The only dojo Hideki had this one, the one that he had built with his hands nineteen years ago.

Hideki was a smart man, a man who strives to succeed. He inherited his midnight colored hair from his mother and his intense brown colored eyes from his father. Standing tall at six feet and three inches, his build was moderate, sporting moderate but strenuous training. Hideki had been quite formidable in his younger years, but after his daughter was born his guard dropped considerably. Kaiya was his only child, and for the past nineteen years she had been the main source of his stress, good and bad. His hair was starting to gray, and the bags under his eyes were becoming much more noticeable.

"I…don't get why you're pushing me so hard." Kaiya mumbled as they began to move in sync, with her trying to keep the main principle in mind. Your whole body was to be used to exert force, not just putting it all into one part. With her extensive knowledge of the human body and it's pressure points, there was no wonder why Hideki might have pressured her in Taido. Kaiya didn't have much of a choice anyway. Considering the majority of her childhood had been spent in the Iwate prefecture, specifically in the town of Hanamaki-cho which had been a rural area, why not spend your days learning something?

"…The art of Taido mustn't die with me." Hideki responded. Kaiya stopped, expression of surprise present on her face.

"Otousan, stop sounding like you're giving me your swan song. Like something's going to happen. I know you, you didn't make any enemies and you don't have a hit out on you or anything like tha—"

"You **need** to protect yourself," Hideki continued, "I can't protect you forever…I couldn't even protect my best friend, who's been long gone already."

"Best friend…?" Kaiya questioned, shaking her head and returning to perfecting a three maneuver combination all with the intent at aiming at the air's very invisible pressure points. Was there anything wonderful in the art of violence?

"Kazuya…" Hideki began, "Kazuya Mishima."

"…That…that little boy in the picture in the attic?" Kaiya questioned, standing upright once more and earning a nod from her father.

"It's been years…" Hideki responded, sighing. "I've never felt so helpless before in my entire life. You see, I got word from my own father, your grandfather that Kazuya's own father had thrown him into a canyon and left him to die. I never saw Kazuya again…come to think of it, I hadn't seen Jun in quite a while either."

"Jun-san?" Kaiya asked, her hazel eyes looking at the outside of the dojo, watching as a stray rabbit hopped by with its offspring, peering back at her only for a brief second. "Oh! Yeaah…I hope she's doin' alright."

"I do too." Hideki commented, a sad smile on his face, which prompted Kaiya to break her current stance and then stop to look at him followed by chuckling, trying to lighten the mood. "You can't forget them anyways. Especially Jin. Those goofy looking eyebrows give him away!"

Hideki shook his head, and soon after a chuckle filled the empty dojo. In his peripheral vision, he could see his daughter smile and that in turn made him feel so much better. As of late, he had been down in the dumps, returning from work at G-Corporation unsuccessful. The failure had driven him to continue, but his superiors forced a vacation down his throat, and he decided that he would keep himself busy by continuing to train his daughter. He had started training her from the age of six and for seven more years their training went undisturbed. If it wasn't for her mother, Kaiya's schedule would have been training, school, and minimal rest. At least his daughter was able to grow and make friends. Part of him feared that because of him she would become resentful of him.

"Enough walking down memory lane. Let's continue our training." he said finally.

Kaiya nodded, grinning. With gusto and a semi loud war cry she extended her leg. "Haaa!" Hideki easily guarded against it, but the lasting ache in his forearm proved to him that all his training wasn't for naught.

~*~

Hideki and Kaiya trained well into the evening hours, the both of them sporting bruises that would last for a couple days at the most. Upon returning to their house, they made quick work of cleaning themselves up to avoid being yelled at by Hideki's wife, Mayumi and sat down to enjoy dinner. Soon, Hideki retired to bed for the evening and in the midst of drying the dishes, Kaiya heard a knock on the door and Mayumi go to answer it.

"Welcome to our home! Please remove your shoes and you're guaranteed entry!"

Kaiya heard thumping and keyed in that they just disregarded her mother's wishes and now the tatami matting in their home would be damaged. Growling, she put one dish down and then headed out of the kitchen.

"Can't you guys listen—"

"Girl! Where is Hideki?!" Endo demanded, pointing at her. Kaiya frowned, her eyes narrowing.

"What business do you have with my old man? He's asleep right now, come back tomorrow!" she responded huffily.

"G Corporation business." Endo responded.

"My husband is on vacation at the moment. If you're not concerning yourself with Taido lessons or you're not an instructor from Kaiya's school, please save all G-Corporation business for when he is scheduled to return in three more weeks." Mayumi spoke this time.

"Taido? That _despicable_ art?" Endo scoffed.

"Hey! You back off!" Kaiya snapped. "Any more wise cracks and Taido will be responsible for kicking your teeth in!"

"Clearly, you can't respect your elders." Endo smirked.

"Oh I can, I only respect those who deserve it! As far as I'm concerned, people who waltz in here demanding things, and more importantly disrespecting my mother's household don't get _any_ respect from me. Otousan is on vacation, come back in three weeks."

"Do you have _any_ idea who you're messing with?" Endo snarled.

"A disrespectful jerk!" Kaiya huffed, fists clenching.

"Kaiya!" Hideki's stern voice cut through to snarl fest. Kaiya turned around, looking at her father.

"Otousan, he started walking in here and disrespecting mom's rules _and_ Taido in general! I know how much you treasure Taido—"

"**Enough**!" Hideki spoke again. "Endo. You're only here if G-Corporation sent you. State your business."

Endo straightened his tie, and shot Kaiya one last spiteful glance before speaking. "Sato-_san_, Kawamura-sachou has requested your return to head a research project at the facility in Nebraska. According to our data on the most recent research mission at Mount Shirane, we've found human remains. A body. Your gut instinct has proven to be correct and Kawamura-sachou wants you to head the research. Currently the body is on its way to Nebraska and I've been instructed to get you there."

"I'm on vacation." Hideki replied, frowning.

"Kawamura-sachou wants you there. Don't make me take you by force." Endo replied, pushing up his sunglasses. Hideki's brown eyes narrowed and he dropped into his stance.

"Very well."

"Sato-san," one of the other voices spoke up. "The remains are believed to be those from the very last loser of The Second King of Iron Fist Tournament. One...**Kazuya Mishima**."

"_What_?!"

Hideki had no further time to be shocked, because Endo had taken advantage of his state of surprise. With a quick strike, Endo moved to land a hit on the man, only to be stopped by Kaiya's forearm.

"I warned you! Taido would be responsible for **kicking your teeth in**!" Kaiya growled and extended her leg quickly, letting it connect with Endo's face, a resounding crack being heard. He stumbled back, clutching his nose and mouth, letting out a wail of pain before spitting out blood. He began to swear in both Japanese and English and Kaiya glared, going to finish the job, only to be stopped by Hideki's arm.

"I'll go with you Endo. On the grounds that you never come near my family again!"

"Otousan—"

"**Kaiya**." Hideki grunted. "Take care of your mother. I'll be back soon."

"…Yeah right." Kaiya huffed, turning around, arms crossed over her chest. Hideki slipped on his shoes and headed out the door, but not before sparing a glance at Endo.

"Pick yourself up. I have the number of a dentist in the Nebraska area. One of your canines is on the floor in the grass over there."

With one last look at his family, Hideki got into the car and it drove off, Mayumi running after it until she reached the mailbox. She stood there until the sleek black car and it's tail lights were very much out of sight, a frown on her face all the while.

_Kazuya…I'll be the one responsible for bringing you back. I swear it. _Were Hideki's only thoughts as he read over the file, ignoring Endo's idle threats as he cleaned himself up in the car further.

Hideki said nothing else upon arriving in Nebraska, his next stop was inside the lab where a body completed covered by a white sheet lay a on a mental gurney. With one nod, Hideki's assistants removed the blanket and he stared. The body had been charred beyond recognition, almost blackened and it was astounding that the barest traces of a once white gi were still present on the body. The giveaway for Hideki were the charred metal fighting gloves, the one Kazuya had always worn before. These remains were indeed Kazuya Mishima, his very old friend.

"Get this body into the rejuvenation tank immediately!"

It would take some time, but Hideki wouldn't be leaving this research facility until Kazuya Mishima was alive and breathing. With mental apologies to his wife and daughter, Hideki donned his lab coat and set to work.

~*~

**End Notes: **Phew! Got the Prologue over. Introduced you guys to the Sato family, G Corporation, and mentioned Kazuya! I have plans for this fanfic, that I do right down to why it's called Blind Justice! Next chapter, we'll say hi to Kazuya, Heihachi, the Mishima Zaibatsu, and Jin! Reviews are appreciated, flames are usually fed to the fires that fuel my plot bunnies! Any questions, drop me a message! Stay tuned for the next chapter!


	2. Resurrection and Strain

**Author's (Beginning) Notes: **Hooray for a second chapter! Started writing this while on vacation in Florida and…half finished it, but now that I'm back I can add onto the second chapter! As I've mentioned previously, expect to see the Mishima/Kazama men make their appearances in this chapter! I'm also well aware that Kazuya's revival would be during/at the end of Tekken 3 but for story purposes I placed it in the Tekken 4 verse for creative purposes.

**Other Notes: **_…I like giving all my original characters (main or minor) names. Forgive me, please? /// = flashback._

**Disclaimer: **It's the same as before, I do **not** own Tekken, I only own the OCs mentioned unless stated otherwise! All characters of the Tekken franchise belong to Namco and no copyright infringement is intended. Suing me wouldn't get you anything anyways!

_Blind Justice_

_Part Two: Resurrection and Strain_

_Beep. Beep. Beep._

"Subject's heart rate is steady, Sato-san." an assistant's voice spoke, fingers working effortlessly at typing in new information into the computer.

"Brain activity?" Hideki questioned.

"Current brain activity is functioning, Sato-san. Blood pressure and organ activity are also up to speed and working."

"Thank you." Hideki said this time, moving to take a seat at the head desk. The only sounds present in the central G Corporation lab were those of a heart monitor, keyboard keys being pressed and the pacing of Hideki's shoes on the well polished tile. It had been several months since Hideki picked up his work and headed to the research facility in Nebraska all in attempts to bring back Kazuya. He had been walking down memory lane, remembering training sessions with Kazuya and off time with Kazuya's grandfather Jinpachi. He remembered everything, including the time he learned Heihachi had thrown Kazuya into a trench, leaving his friend to make his way back up if he somehow survived the fall.

Obviously he did, only to eventually be thrown into a volcano. None of this made sense. Was Heihachi Mishima that cruel of a man?

'_Obviously_,' Hideki thought, folding his hands together and pursing his lips together so that they made a thin line, '_Couldn't take his own son upstaging him by winning the Mishima Zaibatsu back then_?' He had never forgot about Kazuya's own rise to power; he had been keeping tabs on the man quietly while moving to the Iwate Prefecture, even rejecting an invitation to the second King of Iron Fist Tournament despite having the chance to question Heihachi about what he had done to Kazuya as a child. By then, Kaiya was already born and her growth overshadowed interrogating Heihachi. Hideki had put his priorities in order around that time, but his friendship with Kazuya was something he never forgot.

"…Sir?" the assistant's voice questioned softly.

Snapping out of his thought train, he glanced over at her. "I'm sorry… Anything new?"

"No sir…you just look a little distant, that's all. Miss the family?" the woman asked this time, her eyes turning to glance at the screen once more, checking for any abnormalities they may have missed. Now that they had spent months reconstructing Kazuya's body which was now covered in a multitude of scars and still visible burn marks, it had turned into the waiting game. They had no idea as to when Kazuya would open his eyes and rejoin the living world.

"Ah…yes." Hideki replied before returning to look through his paper work as more vital signs appeared on his screen. Suddenly, a pang of guilt rushed through him. His family…were they upset with him? They had to be, he hadn't called or sent letters in such a long time. G Corporation was demanding and…

'No, I shouldn't be using this as an excuse…' he thought to himself, closing the manilla folder and proceeding to bring up Kazuya's genetic data, something he had been neglecting to do for a couple of weeks.

And that when he spotted it. The abnormality.

"…Get me images forty-five A and B, and image fifty-five A on the central screen! Do it now and make sure you keep an eye on Kazuya's vitals!" he commanded, standing up out of his chair.

"Yes sir!" the assistants chorused in unison, bring up the images.

"Damnit, why didn't I notice this before?! That's not in anyone else's genetic data! The code…it's…it's different somehow!" Hideki growled to himself, briefly wondering if the abnormality had been there from birth or if something happened in that volcano. Had Kazuya been aware of this if said abnormality was around?

"Damnit, Kazuya Mishima, **wake up**!" Hideki blurted this time.

And, as if on cue, Kazuya's eyes opened for the first time in several months.

~*~

"Kaiya!" Mayumi's voice called through the empty halls of the dojo, "I made you some lunch!"

With another frown, Mayumi removed her slippers and padded through said dojo, lunch tray firmly in her hands. She couldn't hear the familiar sounds of Kaiya's war cries as she trained and perfected combination after combination. Briefly Mayumi wondered if her daughter had taken her father's words about Taido to heart and mind and sought to perfect herself.

For the first two and half weeks after her husband's abrupt departure, Kaiya had holed herself up in that dojo, continuing to train. Now it had been several months and she heard the noises less and less and when Kaiya refused to have dinner with Mayumi—she would always eat with her, rain or shine, homework or no homework—the woman started to worry terribly. Premature gray hairs were starting to become visible in her auburn colored hair and neighbors had begun to talk.

"Kaiya!" Mayumi called again, worry evident in her tone as he paced picked up, the glass bowl and cup rattling a little. She started to assume the worst; maybe Kaiya had knocked herself out? Passed out? Ran away from home? When she came across the half ajar rice paper door, Mayumi took the time to look through it and she heaved a sigh of relief. Kaiya was there outside, safe and sound.

Her daughter's chocolate colored hair was out of its 'time for training' ponytail and the top half of her gi had been down at her waist, Mayumi no longer able to see the 'Sato' family mark on the back. Kaiya's gray gauntlets lay at her bare feet, and her now calloused and rough hands were clenched into tight fists. Her eyes were narrowed and her lips were pursed and she looked to be in thought. Mayumi felt another pang of sadness in her heart. Kaiya looked so much like Hideki when she was this stern. Something had started eating away at her, hadn't it?

"Your hair's gotten longer, do you want me to cut it for you?" Mayumi asked after she set the tray down thus effectively breaking the silence, save for the random chirps of the nearby birds and the rushing of the stream a few feet from them.

"Any word from Otousan?" Kaiya asked, having not bothered to turn around.

"It's going to get into your eyes and soon it will be distracting while you're training. I could cut it shoulder length for you, just like when you were younger and we'd go to park." Mayumi stepped down onto the cool ground and headed toward her daughter, "I could wash your gi too. It's gotten dingy and soon I won't be able to keep it stark white anymore and then I'll have to spend money getting a new one tailored for you—"

"**Kaasan**." Kaiya interjected bluntly and Mayumi felt like she had been slapped in the face.

"_Nothing_!" Mayumi cried, "Not even a letter!"

"Yeah, I figured." Kaiya responded, finally turning around and walking past her mother. She hadn't bothered to make eye contact with Mayumi and it took the woman everything she had to not sink to her knees and cry.

"I'm going to go finish training."

When the rice paper door shut with an audible slam, it scared the birds and made them fly from the bushes and it made Mayumi visibly flinch. The woman lost it then, sinking to her knees and choking back a sob. She was utterly helpless when it came to watching her small family fall apart right in front of her.

'_Kazuya Mishima is dead. Why does Otousan care so much? The dead can't walk! He's a fool for getting into something like biogenetics! Death is permanent._' Kaiya thought, dropping into one of her stances. With a cry of frustration she extended her arm in a fluid punch and she wasn't sure who to imagine there taking the hit: her father for leaving and not saying anything or Kazuya Mishima.

"**Damn you both**!"

~*~

The initial reaction Kazuya had upon waking up what appeared to be a giant fish tank was surprise, which quickly turned into anger. He started banging on the thick glass, and in mere seconds it had begun to crack under the immense strength. The cracks then lengthened and allowed more and more water to seep out and it was only a matter of time before it would shatter, sending glass everywhere and causing Kazuya to fall forward. The privilege of being weightless in water was taken away from him and he was forced to be reacquainted with gravity. He landed on his face and then pulled himself up to his knees, tearing the wires that had been protruding from his chest and arms and finally inhaling on his own, taking in large amounts of air when he wasn't coughing up water.

His vision blurred in and out for a couple of seconds, and slowly but surely things started coming back to him and the first words out of his mouth were a hoarse and enraged:

"That bastard Heihachi!"

Hideki's assistants stepped back, giving the angry Kazuya some room and the guards poured in after hearing the commotion from the outside with their weapons drawn and ready to fire as soon as Hideki gave the command.

"Kazuya!" Hideki began, stepping forward and shooing the guards away with one arm. Hideki's voice prompted Kazuya to look up at him and his brain was able to give him the memory of a boy with jet black hair and kind brown eyes. The eyes never had changed in all these years, there was no mistaking it.

"Hideki."

The response was monotonous as Kazuya wobbled, only to have Hideki steady him and guide him toward a vacant chair.

"Where am I?" was the next question out of Kazuya's mouth.

"G Corporation's facility in Nebraska." Hideki replied, "We pulled your remains from Mt. Shirane in Japan. Kazuya…how—"

"G Corporation? The rival of the Mishima Zaibatsu?" Kazuya questioned, "Why?"

"Do you think you should be asking why?" Hideki countered. "We found your remains by accident but we've spent a great deal of time on your reconstruction and resurrection. I'm quite surprised that the majority of your body was still in tact."

They didn't know the half of it. Quite some time ago, Kazuya had bartered with the Devil, his soul in exchange for being able to climb back up and take revenge upon his father. Neither he nor Devil possibly expected Heihachi to throw him into a mouth of the volcano and Kazuya himself could already sense a part of himself gone. He'd have to find that other half immediately, in order to gain full control over Devil.

"Kazuya…" Hideki began again, "We found an…abnormality in your genetic coding. It's unlike anything we've seen before—"

"Devil." Kazuya interrupted, standing up quickly.

"Is _that _what you're calling it? A Devil…gene of some sort?" Hideki questioned. So Kazuya knew about this? Was this gene of his responsible for keeping his body intact? Was it the thing that had given him those wing protrusions out of his back? Question after question was swirling through his mind and he almost forgotten that his friend was revived mere minutes ago. It seemed as if Kazuya hadn't forgotten a single thing these past twenty years and Hideki's gut instinct told him this went farther than science.

"Once Kawamura gets word of that gene in your body, he'll want to extract part of it." the man finally continued, unbuttoning his lab coat and tossing it to Kazuya who reluctantly accepted it. He could stand in an air conditioned laboratory completely naked for too long; shrinkage was guaranteed. When he heard of Hideki's warning, the gears in his head proceeded to turn. Perhaps if he lets G Corporation extract part of the Devil Gene he carries then maybe he could find a way to harness, control, and ultimately understand its power. He'd then use that power to destroy his father and the Mishima Zaibatsu. Slowly and systematically he'd take back everything by any means necessary.

"….Kawamura can do whatever he wants." Kazuya said after his moment of deliberation.

"Kazuya—" Hideki warned.

"Idiot. I'm voluntarily letting your corporation use me as the proverbial guinea pig." Kazuya snapped.

"…What about Heihachi?"

Kazuya glared at a blank space on the wall and an audible growl was heard. "His time will come. I'll kill that bastard dead!"

~*~

Kaiya had been in the middle of packing her bags when Mayumi knocked on the space of the sliding door to her room.

"It's open." the girl replied, sitting one of her wheeled suitcases upright. Mayumi surveyed the tidiness of Kaiya's room. The bed was made with crisp linen and the tatami matting had been swept and repaired. All of her shoes were lined up neatly and her open closet door was empty, save for a few jackets and her school uniforms hanging on hangers. Mayumi felt her heart sink into her stomach and the tears had already started appearing.

"You're leaving too?!"

"I've done all I can do training wise here in Hanamaki-cho. All I had was Otousan to rely on, but now that he's gone I've let it sink in that…I'm at a loss as to what to do. Otousan was my teacher and taught me everything he could about Taido…but I know it in my gut that my training isn't over." Kaiya replied, standing up.

"Where are you going, Kaiya?!" Mayumi began, "Kaiya please don't go—"

"Dad has a friend in Brisbane, Australia who works in the dojo. I've gotten in touch with him and he says he's willing to teach me Taido. I'll have to share the space with the actual dojo master, but they're willing to let me stay there with them." Kaiya interrupted. Clearly Mayumi wasn't going to convince her daughter otherwise, and that's what made it hurt even more.

"…I'll be fine." Kaiya finished.

"…No! You're not going!" Mayumi protested. "Hideki already left, you're not leaving too!"

"I've already paid for my tickets. I'm going." Kaiya replied, reaching for her jacket. "…I'm sorry I have to leave you, Kaasan."

"Kaiya…going off by yourself is dangerous! What if something happens to you?!" Mayumi cried once again, putting a hand on her daughter's shoulder and forcing her to turn and make direct eye contact with her, if only for a few seconds.

"The dojo master and his comrades will look after me. I promise I'll stay out of trouble." Kaiya insisted, frowning at her mother. She closed her eyes so she wouldn't have to see the woman cry some more. "…There's nothing else here for me in Iwate. And besides, I've got to get some more time for myself. When I come back, hopefully Otousan will be back…and I'll be able to make him answer for what's he done these past several months."

"Kaiya, Hideki will call eventually—" Mayumi started.

"That's right! **Eventually**! In G Corporation lingo that means not until _they're_ ready to send him back!" Kaiya cut in abruptly, partially angry at Mayumi for holding onto what little faith she might have had. If this kept up, her mother would worry herself sick and wind up in the hospital like before. It was admirable the way she cared for her family but…it was easier for now to give up on waiting.

"Kaiya don't say that! Don't stop believing in your father! He's working on this for a good cause!" Mayumi reasoned.

"Good cause? Yeah, right. Good cause or just to try and see a man that should be **dead**?!" Kaiya hissed, picking up her bags and walking out of the doorway. In the midst of her argument with her mother she had heard the sound of the Hanamaki taxi car pulling up in front of their house.

"Kaiya! **Kaiya**!" Mayumi called after her daughter, desperation in her voice as she picked up her feet and hurried after Kaiya. "Please wait! I'll call another one of Hideki's friends here! He knows Taido! **Please don't go**!"

"…Driver, Iwate-Hanamaki airport, please." Kaiya spoke, shutting the door. She spared her mother one last look and mouthed an "I'm sorry for everything, Kaasan".

She had to refrain from looking through the back window, not wanting to see Mayumi drop to her knees and scream for her to come back.

~*~

"Good…slowly but surely," an old man's voice spoke as he slowly paced the floors of an old dojo located in Brisbane, Australia, tired gold eyes resting on the hooded man who had broken what might have been the third sandbag, "The art of traditional Karate is beginning to take precedence over your previous Mishima style of fighting."

The old man never received a response, only the sounds of the hooded man panting heavily and assistants coming in to sweep up the sand and set up a new bag were heard. It had been this way for months, beginning from the time the man had walked in here and respectfully asked the dojo master to help him unlearn the Advanced Mishima style Karate and Kazama-Style self defense.

"…You never told me why you thought a place like _this_ would bring you solace…" the old man pondered aloud.

"…It's hard to trust anyone that's close to me." the hooded man responded, standing upright.

"I'm sorry to hear that." the old man continued, a frown on his face.

"If you knew my family, you would understand."

"_Everybody _knows your family. Your grandfather is talked about everywhere." the elderly man replied, turning around although he knew that set the hooded man off and made him tense up. "It is…unfortunate that a kind person such as yourself has connections to someone **so** dark hearted and malicious.."

Picking up his feet, he walked up the step and folded his hands behind his back and kept them firmly clasped together.

"There has to be _one_ good apple out of the bunch. Isn't that right, Jin Kazama?" he finished finally, hearing the sounds of the fabric shifting about. The navy blue hood fell to the man's shoulders revealing hair that spiked back and intense yet still somehow kind brown eyes. This man was indeed Jin Kazama, the son of Kazuya Mishima and Jun Kazama. He remained silent, watching the elderly man shift his balance and raise one hand to scratch at his gray beard.

"Your stance is still a tad off by the way, and your punches are still lacking as well. You can't let your father and other thoughts plague your mind. It will eventually distract you."

Jin kicked himself mentally. As of late, all he could think about were his family lineage, his own father, and more importantly that accursed Devil Gene in his blood. Those thoughts only fueled his hatred and his desire to destroy it all, if only to end the suffering. He hadn't been aware that he had let himself get too affected by it. It only became apparent when the mark branded on his arm began to ache just slightly, making him clench his teeth in agitation, and his fists curl up into fists, squeezing the leather of his gauntlets. That mark had been causing a lot of distress for him as of late, as if it had been doing its own method of foreshadowing. All the more reason to quickly unlearn the Mishima style of Karate and cut another tie that connected him to Kazuya and Heihachi.

"Dinner will be prepared in just a few moments," the elderly man's voice began, cutting through Jin's thoughts thankfully, "I know you'd prefer training, but we can't have you getting lightheaded in the middle of your sparring sessions like before, right?"

"…Yes." was the simple response from Jin as he reluctantly starting following the old man down the well lit hallways. The dojo had been connected to a fairy large living space. Jin hadn't had too much of a problem sharing some living quarters with a few of the fledgling students. So long as he was awarded some personal training time, things worked out just fine. Jin had even been convinced into attending some of the public classes, learning something from those too.

"Yay! Kazama-san's joining us for _din~ner _again!" one of the younger students chirped in sing-song, quickly making some space for him followed by tugging at his gauntlet clad hand with enough strength to get him down onto the comfortable pillow. Jin would ignore the brief feeling of being 'old' and quietly take his place next to the ecstatic girl. Dinner was brought out by some of the dojo elders, an extra place being set.

"Hashimoto-sensei," another student began, hands folded into his lap, auburn ponytail falling against his back, "Is there someone else joining us tonight?"

The elderly man, Hashimoto gave a quick nod. "Yes. She's here to hone and perfect her skills in Taido with my fellow instructor Ainsley-sensei. Her flight arrived about an hour ago and Kubota-sensei left to pick her up."

"Ohhhh!" the girl sitting next to Jin chirped up, "I'm learning Taido too! That's so cool! Another girl is coming!" she clapped her hands excitedly as Jin looked on in very mild amusement. It figures she would be excited, there weren't many girls here willing to put up with the training. Then again, according to Hashimoto the majority of these children were orphaned and needed to be kept off the streets. The old man had been doing a splendid job of being surrogate father to not only them, but to Jin as well. Hashimoto made it easy for Jin to open up little by little, but for the most part the orphans just know him as a traveling student with the purpose of making a big change, not just for himself, but for everybody. They found it admirable, but they only knew the half of it. If they knew what Jin was _truly_ capable of, they'd be terrified.

The sound of a car horn honking as it pulled up to the main gates of the dojo was heard, and it prompted the kids to get up, the girl pulling Jin along with her, her hand clasping his own tightly. The kids began to chatter and stand on their tip toes, calling Ainsely's name. A tall man with sandy blonde hair and gray eyes stepped out of the car with a big grin on his face.

"Miss me?" he joked with the kids and they cheered and circled him, leaving Jin to watch quietly with Hashimoto, who had a proud look on his face.

"So where is sheee?!" the girl who had been clinging to Jin seconds ago asked excitedly, "Is she here?!"

"Yep! I've got her right here!" Ainsley replied, opening the rear door.

Jin watched as a girl stepped out of the car, clad in form fitting light denim jeans and shin length buckled black boots, along with an airy white top. Her hair had been pulled back into a neat ponytail and her eyes were hidden by shades. A large duffle bag was slung across her shoulders, and one of her grappling glove covered hands reached to remove the shades, revealing hazel eyes.

"Yo!" she greeted casually to the kids, a bright smile on her face.

'_That voice…_' Jin thought. Was it…?

///

"_Why so glum? Cheer up buttercup!" a bright voice spoke before a hand pinched and pulled at one of Jin's cheeks, causing him to let out a cry of surprise and then swat at the offended hand hard. The hand pulled away with a loud girly wail of pain followed by a "Geez! Take it easy Eyebrows, I'm a girl!"_

"_So?!" Fourteen year old Jin countered._

"_That means you have to take it easy on me! Didn't your mom teach you any manners?!"_

"_Did yours, Kaiya?" he retorted, glaring at her._

"_Of course she did, Eyebrows!"_

"_Stop calling me that, _Puu-chan_!" Jin hissed, and then he grinned as her mouth dropped open in horror._

"_Doll-chan?! You—"_

"_Kaiya, it's time for you and Jin to come back inside! Jun is leaving very soon!" Mayumi's voice called. Kaiya rubbed at her arm where a bright red mark had already been appearing before she nudged Jin lightly._

"_Race you back?" she asked._

"_Sure!"_

_The two took off laughing._

_That was the last time Jin ever saw Kaiya. Everything went downhill for him after that._

///

"…Puu-chan?" Jin blurted absentmindedly, watching as the girl turned to look at him just seconds later, mouth agape.

"What did you say—Eyebrows?!" Kaiya squeaked.

Hashimoto and Ainsley looked on in amusement as the kids looked back and forth. Things could only get better, right?

~*~

Meanwhile, back in Japan at the Mishima Zaibatsu, and armor clad man approached a well polished marble desk, a stack of photographs in his hand.

"Heihachi-sama," the man began, setting the photographs on the table. "We've found Kazuya."

Heihachi Mishima immediately swirled around in his chair, about ready to have Kuma smack the living hell out of this man for spouting such nonsense, "Kazuya Mishima is dead!" he bellowed, spiked gray hair moving about momentarily.

"No. Sir, we've got photographs of his remains and—"

"His remains," Heihachi began, slamming his fist on the desk, "That means he's **DEAD**, right?!" Honestly he thought he hired the smartest people to help run this company.

"Heihachi-sama, his remains were removed from the volcano by G Corporation…" the man continued nervously. Heihachi picked up one of the pictures, looking at it carefully. No one could survive being thrown into the mouth of a volcano, it was _impossible_! His mouth dropped open only slightly when he eyed the third photograph. Were those…indents of where wings _used_ to be? Heihachi stared at the picture a few moments longer, remembering his failures with Jin and Ogre. He had realized that he had needed the Devil Gene itself, as well as Ogre's powers in order to gain immortality and negate the need for something as stupid as heirs to the Mishima Zaibatsu. It was one step further from imprisoning his own father beneath Hon-Maru and leaving him to die.

"Prepare the Tekken Force. I want the remains of Kazuya Mishima!" Heihachi concluded, throwing the picture down onto his desk and sending the others scattering onto the floor. "The preparation is to be done as quickly as possible!"

Heihachi's plans of world domination looked that much more possible.

* * *

**End Notes: **Yeah, I know Heihachi's introduction was brief. BUT! Now you know that Kaiya and Jin have known each other as children but due to later events, they don't see each other for seven years (there's a two year age difference between them). Now to get to work on the next installment! You'll see some more things alluding to Kazuya and Hideki's friendship as children and more mentioning of Jinpachi, as well more between Jin and Kaiya (and their dorky nicknames for each other—alright, I think Puu-chan is actually cute), and Heihachi's inevitable infiltration of G Corporation, which, as you know, is the start of the events of Tekken 4. Oh what a merry December 25th the next chapter will be!

Expect another branch of the story involving Steve Fox to jump off soon too, but that's in the distant future! Stay tuned!


	3. Invasion

**Author's Notes: **I have returned with another chapter! Yay! My thanks to those who have been nice enough to leave reviews. In any case, it's about time I finally got to put in some action—okay, more of the action. Oh sweet invasion, you are the precursor to the King of the Iron Fist Tournament 4!

**Disclaimer: **Same as before. I own all of the original characters in this fic unless otherwise stated, and I claim no ownership (of any kind!) of the Tekken franchise or its characters. I'm just borrowing them for creative purposes. No copyright infringement is intended. Won't be getting anything either. No, really.

_Blind Justice_

_Part Three: Invasion_

It had taken months, but finally, Heihachi had all the pieces lined up. If he had to wait months to plan a thorough and effective event that would result with him being on top of the world, then he would wait. As expected, his researchers went right to work after delivering him the photographs of Kazuya's corpse. The first set of months brought failure; any left over traces of DNA that could have been at Mt. Shirane were completely gone. The Zaibatsu's hi-tech servers brought him nothing, and the undercover agents he sent to sniff around G Corporations facilities in Japan, Nepal, and the United States wound up in the 'Missing' section of the Zaibatsu's database.

His patience had been running thin, and by the grace of some higher power on December 24th, one of his researchers came back with a report. G Corporation had been making advances on a new life form, courtesy of the genetic data they acquired from Mt. Shirane. None of the accomplishments would have been possible had they not used the data from his son's remains. Heihachi told his force that they would dispatch to both Nepal and Nebraska the next day. When he got what he wanted, he would then burn G Corporation to the ground and leave no trace of it.

This all could have been prevented, had Heihachi found his currently MIA grandson. He had never forgotten the events that transpired at the end of the third King of Iron Fist Tournament. He willingly took in and trained his grandson in the art of Mishima style Karate, all in the hope of having Jin do his dirty work for him. Jin would enter the tournament, eliminate the weak and work his way up to Ogre. Once he destroyed Ogre, Heihachi would kill Jin and take his DNA, harness it with Ogre and become immortal. It would effectively eliminate the need for an heir to the Mishima Zaibatsu, and not to mention Heihachi himself would be the strongest man alive.

It was such a shame that things turned out differently in the end. While Jin _had _won the tournament and Heihachi raised a gun and shot him at point blank range in the forehead without a moment of hesitation, something inside Jin came to the surface, something dark, powerful, and evil. Heihachi never forgot those black, tribal-like markings on the boy's forehead, as well as those glowing red eyes. He never forgot how fast his supposed-to-be-dead grandson smashed him through a wall of stone and catapulted him toward the ground multiple stories below before taking off into the night with the help of large black wings, leaving the man to watch. It was one the biggest failures he remembered, and failure was one of those things Heihachi despised.

But now, he was graced with a second chance. This time he would be successful, and there was nobody that was going to stand in his way.

Donned in his authentic tiger-printed jacket, his finest shirt, tie, pants, and shoes, Heihachi boarded his private jet as his personal group of security saluted him. He sat down in the head seat in the back, the seat that was positioned above the others and watched as his men started up the plane and took off.

It was time to head toward victory.

~*~

Kazuya had lost track of time. When the opportunity to learn more about something that had become apart of you arose, you tended to grab for it, dissect it, and take whatever you could from it. Kazuya did everything in his power to make sure he could control Devil. If there was anything he could have learned from Heihachi, it was that the Mishimas were men who could only rely on themselves, and making use of whatever they had at their disposal. For Kazuya, if it meant selling his soul for another chance to take revenge on Heihachi, he'd do it.

Even as a child, Heihachi took from Kazuya. He took his grandfather, Jinpachi, a well respected man—a man who treated him _so well_—away from him. The last Kazuya had heard of or remembered Jinpachi was when the man tried to take the empire he had built away from Heihachi. He never knew of the outcome, he was just angry. Heihachi didn't stop there. He threw Kazuya—his _own_ son—down a ravine in attempts to see if he was his 'true son', and then Heihachi graduated from ravines to volcanoes. Although Kazuya had been revived in thanks to both Devil and G Corporation, he would _never _forget the agonizing pain of feeling and seeing his own flesh begin to burn away, and being weak and powerless when it came to being unable climb back up or move.

That _weakness_, that _powerlessness_, and Heihachi in general made Kazuya's blood boil. But now, he was sure that his 'father'—he used the term very loosely, if at all—wasn't expecting him to be alive. Once he was done with G Corporation and had his priorities tucked into order, he'd return to Japan.

"Kazuya, we're done for today." Hideki's voice infiltrated his thoughts, and it forced him to look up at the dark haired man with a blank expression.

"That's it?" he questioned, watching Hideki's facial expression change to one of puzzlement.

"Kazuya…it's been three hours since I've started the next experiment." the man told him. Kazuya sat up on the table, one brown and one red iris looking at his long time friend. It was somewhat amusing to Kazuya, how Hideki tried to be a friend, how he himself tried to pick up this friendship of theirs more than forty years later. From the looks of it, Hideki was all too willing to tell Kazuya whatever he had wanted to know about G Corporation: why they chose biogenetics, why they specifically decided to revive him, and why Hideki chose to subject himself to the likes of Kawamura. Kazuya wondered if Hideki was telling him all of this because he knew G Corporation would try and silence him permanently—as if they _could_—or make Kazuya their billboard. That would entail Kazuya being 'owned' and Kazuya was not a man to be owned. He wasn't property, he was a walking, breathing force to be reckoned with, a force that would one day grip the entire world in the palm of his hand.

"What?" Hideki asked, eyebrow raised as he looked up from the nearby computer monitor. Kazuya had seen Hideki move, but his mind was far from really being aware of it.

"Why are you still here?" Kazuya asked finally. All of the other measly assistants Hideki had left the facility—something or other about the holidays, he didn't care but so much about it—but Hideki remained. In fact, for these past couple of months, the jet black-haired man stayed. Kazuya wouldn't have minded a different assistant; whoever gave him the answers he wanted was sufficient enough. It was interesting knowing that this man, his long time friend, had a family waiting for him more than likely and he chose to stay behind.

"Makes no point in returning just yet." Hideki said solemnly.

"You have a family. Isn't that enough reason to return?" Kazuya questioned this time.

"I'm sure my family isn't too pleased with me. I've neglected to stay in touch with my wife or my daughter." Hideki told him, "I left in the middle of training my daughter."

"Your not the father of the year it seems." Kazuya commented dryly, watching Hideki cringe just a little. "But consider yourself better than Heihachi. You wouldn't throw your offspring into a molten fire pit."

"…How do you know that?" Hideki retorted just as dryly and Kazuya couldn't help but snort at that.

"Because you'd sooner die before harming her." And that, Kazuya believed was the thing that would make someone like Heihachi perceive someone like Hideki useless. For a couple of moments, Kazuya thought the same thing about his friend and was caught in a cross between questioning himself and wanting to take those thoughts back. His mindset, unfortunately, was akin to Heihachi's. It boiled right back down to what the man had instilled in Kazuya since childhood: self-sufficiency. Had Heihachi really succeeded in raising Kazuya?

'_No_.' A voice, so unlike his own echoed in his thoughts.

"I guess you're right," Hideki sighed. "She and Mayumi are all I have left."

Kazuya was about to respond but the double doors had opened loudly, forcing him to get off the examination table to see who had entered the room. The frown on his face only deepened when he realized it was the head of G Corporation, Kawamura.

"Aaah, Mister Mishima," the other man greeted, tugging on his bright red blazer and adjusting his already straightened green tie, "How are we today?"

"Don't start the small talk. Why did you show your face here?" Kazuya spat.

"Is that any way to talk to the man responsible for reviving you?" Kawamura countered haughtily, smirking shortly afterward.

"I don't recall you _ever_ showing up here during my stay." That seemed to push a button with the owner, being that the confident smirk he hand on his face died instantly.

"I won't be disrespected in my own facilities! I'm the one who ordered your resurrection and I can just as easily have you exterminated!" Kawamura hissed threateningly, and that in turn made Kazuya seethe. Who did this man think he was, talking to him that way? Without another thought, Kazuya extended his hand and in mere seconds it was clenched around Kawamura's throat in an iron grip, leaving the man to flail and force himself onto his knees before putting his hands on Kazuya's arms. With just the right amount of pressure, Kazuya could crush this man's vocal chords, break his neck even. Kawamura's existence was nothing more than a drop in the bucket to Kazuya. There mere thought of the G Corporation owner making him into a billboard appeared again. While Kazuya was _slightly_ grateful that G Corporation gave him life once again, he'd be damned if he was going to be at the mercy of a spineless man like Kawamura. More than likely, this man hid behind his money and his fleet of security officers and Kazuya without a doubt could dispose of each and every one of them.

"I'd rethink your choice of words." Kazuya spat, "_I'm_ the one who can exterminate _you_, and make **everyone **in here regret having a hand in reviving me." With a small amount of force, he shoved Kawamura away from him, watching him scramble backward, the fear very much evident in his eyes as he struggle to pick his pride up off the floor.

"I'll…I'll make you regret doing that!" Kawamura choked out, his own hand lightly grasping the spot where Kazuya's hand had been as he tried his best to scramble out of the room while on his knees. Once he was gone, Kazuya relaxed just a little bit. It wasn't long until he heard Hideki's un-forced, genuine laughter and it prompted him to turn at look at him.

"I can't believe you work for _him_." he scoffed as Hideki straightened up.

"Hey, the job pays well. If it didn't, I would have beaten him up years ago."

Just then, the lights began to flicker and they eventually shut off. Kazuya and Hideki proceeded to scan the room quickly, with Kazuya's familiar gut instinct kicking in to let him know that something was awry. Five seconds later, the emergency lights were switched on and a message over the examination room's loudspeaker came on. At first there had been initial static, and then the voice of Kawamura's right hand man, Endo, sounded.

"Hideki, You and Kazuya need to escape!" his frenzied voice began.

"What?!" Hideki began as Kazuya's fist clenched. This obviously wasn't the work of a G Corporation CEO whose pride had been broken. If these people were pressuring escape then perhaps the time to do so was now.

"They've broken into the facility! I-I don't know what they're looking for, but they've already killed some of the employees! There's a car down in the private hangar waiting for you! You have ten minutes before it leaves!" Endo continued.

"Who's broken in?!" Hideki questioned. Kazuya, fed up with the question and answer section, stalked toward the door and flung it open, walking into the dimly lit corridor. There, he spied a handful of soldiers in the familiar fatigued armor and darkened helmets, toting guns. Just in the distance, Kazuya could still hear Endo speaking to Hideki, and before Endo had lost contact with the other man, he heard him utter two words.

"Tekken Force." he hissed.

Automatically, one black clad soldier had made the choice to put himself in an early grave first, rushing forward, fist drawn. Briefly, Kazuya could see the camera on the left side of said soldier's helmet and instantly he knew that Heihachi had to be watching. Kazuya delivered a swift, bone shattering punch to his ribs, hand breaking the armor with ease, releasing a sickening cracking sound through the hallway. Silently, the man slouched against the wall motionless.

Another one came dashing toward him and Kazuya dispatched of that one easily, a quick uppercut charged with lightning being the move of choice. By the time the soldier hit the ground, lightning crackled around his midsection and he arched his back in pain. The next Tekken Force member to try to face Kazuya head on had a gun and the now enraged Kazuya was able to knock him back into his comrades, creating a human domino effect. When he recovered, he stared directly into Kazuya's eyes and from what Kazuya could see, the soldier froze in fear.

With another hard glare, Kazuya opened his mouth to speak, his tone filled with venom.

"Surprise."

~*~

It had been quite the interesting set of months for Jin. He spent most of his days listening to Kaiya stroll down memory lane every now and then when he wasn't busy training with the dojo master. He never said it out loud, but he was proud of himself for unlearning the Mishima style of Karate and placing favor in the traditional kind. It put him just a bit closer to being himself. However, it was only at night that doubt and other negative emotions plagued his thoughts. A voice in his head was so quick to remind him that regardless of what he did, he would be _permanently_ bound to the Mishimas. Their blood flowed through his veins, and blessed him with a power that nobody else could have. Kazuya was his father, and Heihachi was his grandfather. They were apart of his lineage, no matter how much he wished they weren't, no matter how much he despised them and everything they stood for.

Jin only found solace in his mother. Jun was the one who raised him, and taught him Kazama Style of Defense as a child. She taught him right from wrong, she taught him mercy. Jun was such a kind and compassionate woman, sometimes he found it hard to believe that she had crossed paths and eventually laid with Kazuya.

Jin had never gotten over his mother being taken away from him, and to this day he occasionally blames himself for not listening to her. He should have run, just as she screamed for him to. Maybe…just maybe the chance of her still being with him would be that much bigger. He chose to go against Ogre only to lose within seconds and when he came to, Jun was gone. All he could do was find his grandfather and go from there.

Jin had trusted Heihachi, for the man was the only blood relative he had left, the only blood relative he could get into contact with. Heihachi took him in and trained him for four years and proved to be reliable to Jin. He only got but so close with Heihachi, but Jin would take what he could get. What could one expect from a fifteen year old who had lost the closest person to them?

Words couldn't describe what Jin felt when Heihachi betrayed him. All he remembered was seeing the barrel of a gun aimed at his head, and his grandfather holding that gun before things had gone black. When he came to, the area around him had been destroyed and there had been traces of blood on his hands. Jin had initially been confused at first, but that confusion then turned into hurt and anger. Heihachi's betrayal became the straw that broke the camel's back, and Jin realized it was so much easier to push everyone away from him. It was so much easier to hate Heihachi, his father, and everything about himself. It was easier to be alone.

However, when his travels brought him to Brisbane, the dojo master Hashimoto and his flock of children, being alone became difficult, and Jin found himself becoming more comfortable as the days had gone by. Hashimoto had been nothing like his grandfather. While the training _was_ strenuous, the man had nothing but kind words to say, although Jin said nothing the majority of the time. He only did as he was told, the ever obedient student. When the time for rest came, Jin would come out back where a tranquil garden rested, sit, and think. Every now and then, he'd hear the children training in the distance, followed by Hashimoto and Ainsely's precise directions. Now that the training had been paused, the only things Jin heard now were the sounds of the children playing and Kaiya's lighthearted laughter as she teased them every now and then.

"Do you want to come play with us, Jin?"

Kaiya had been asking him that every day for the past couple of weeks. Each time Jin would decline and he'd watch her make this one face. Her lips puckered into an obvious pout and she would knit her eyebrows together for two seconds before giving a small shrug and moving her bangs from out of her face.

"Alright. Suit yourself." she'd say, and she'd go back inside and seconds later he'd hear laughter and things continued as normal.

Today was different however. Kaiya didn't come out to ask him, not once. He didn't even hear her laughter, or hear her playing with the kids. For a while, Jin had been envious of her. Kaiya told him about Hideki and how he had left her and Mayumi behind for G Corporation's research involving his father, and how eventually she herself left her mother behind to come to Brisbane to learn more and perfect her Taido. More importantly, despite all of that, she was able to smile genuinely. Jin couldn't even recall the last time he ever laughed or smiled.

When he peeled himself away from his thoughts, he saw the rice paper door slide open just a bit and Kaiya pop her head in, brown hair resting on one visible shoulder. When they made eye contact, she smiled and pushed the door open all the way and stepped out.

"I'm going to tell you no if you ask me." Jin said without thinking.

Kaiya gave a small shrug, walking toward one of the paper lanterns and proceeding to take off the covering. "I'm not going to ask you to play today. You're always going to say no, so I didn't bother to ask,"

"Why aren't you inside playing with them? They like being around you." Jin replied, watching as she inspected the bulb inside before putting the covering back on.

"I know but…they keep asking about you."

"Why?"

"Because they like you." Kaiya said exasperatedly.

"They shouldn't." Jin told her, declining to think before he spoke once again. Before he change what he said, he noticed her looking at him again.

"Why?" she questioned.

"They don't know anything about me."

"They're _children_, Jin. They just like your 'ultra-cool' spiky hair. I don't think they care about Kazuya or Heihachi or whatever problems you're facing right now." Kaiya said, moving to sit next to him. "They want to know how you generate lightning because it's apparently awesome, and they want you to play some games with them."

Jin stared at his reflection in the pond, his usual stern expression present. He was sure it was easy to simply say yes and partake in whatever games the kids had wanted to play, but he'd feel so out of place with them. He'd much rather be by himself and listening to them have fun, knowing that they were alright. This wasn't the first time he had been forced into social situations. There had been his stint in Mishima High School where a bright and bubbly girl, Ling Xiaoyu, pigtails and all, somehow talked him into hanging out with her and her friends. Instead of being by himself in the corner like he usually was, he tagged along with her. They _did _become friends, but Heihachi had pulled him out of school in favor of more harsh training and a handful of personal tutors shortly afterward. Xiaoyu had always been in his thoughts since then, he had often wondered what she had been up to and if she was alright.

"You know, staring at that pond isn't going to make your reflection stand in for you." Kaiya spoke up finally, patting him on the shoulder lightly whilst chuckling. "But do tell me why you'd rather be by yourself."

"…Everyone else is safer that way." Jin told her. "If I'm alone then no one else gets hurt. I can take care of Heihachi and the Mishima Zaibatsu."

Kaiya frowned, "It's always Heihachi this, Mishima Zaibatsu that with you. What happened to the Jin Kazama I remember? You know, the one who wasn't consumed by thoughts of revenge and loathing?!…The one who called me frickin' Puu-chan to piss me off!"

"The Jin Kazama you're looking for is dead." Jin snapped, "He died the moment Ogre killed his mother."

"What…? You mean that…"

"Yes."

"But what did that have to do with Heihachi and the Mishima Zaibatsu?"

"…After my mother died, I went to Heihachi just as she told me. I _begged _for him to train me, and he did. He took me in and he taught me. I thought I could trust him…I _did_ trust him. What does he do? He has his Tekken Force ambush me, and then he himself tried to _kill me _by shooting me. I didn't remember anything after that. All I remember was waking up to find blood on my hands."

"…Is that why you ended up all the way over here, in Australia?" Kaiya questioned, concerned look on her face. Jin nodded at her. He was here to do two things: unlearn his family's fighting style and keep away from everybody. He had been good at that for the past two years, and once he was completely finished here, he'd move on. He couldn't risk losing control and hurting people. He'd never forgive himself if any of these children wound up dead. The Devil within turned him into a monster, and when he was able to get control of himself, it would _still_ linger inside his head. It taunted him, and it warned him that he wouldn't be able to hold it back forever. It told him to embrace this power and use it to destroy _everything_.

"Jin, you can't shut people out." Kaiya told him, "Being by yourself will only backfire! C'mon…you…you're strong! You can beat whatever's plaguing you, I know you can!"

"…I _can't_." Jin hissed.

"You know what? You _can_. I don't know what the deal is with your father because he's long dead, but you can beat Heihachi, right? More importantly you can beat your demons. I don't think you're weak and I don't think you're a monster either. You're a good person, Eyebrows." Kaiya told him, nudging him in the shoulder while laughing.

Jin eyed her momentarily before sighing. In some odd way, he felt that he could believe what Kaiya told him. He could be strong and he could defeat the Devil Within, even if it was bound to him. Maybe by defeating his grandfather and this…thing that plagued him, he'd find some modicum of peace.

"…Thank you, Puu-chan." he said finally, looking over at her. He saw her smile drop instantly and her mouth open in disbelief, and he thought it was highly amusing. That smile on her face then returned and she nudged him again. "See? The Jin Kazama I'm looking for is still alive. He's somewhere in there. Maybe if you do what you set out to do, you'll be a lot happier."

"…I think…I think that Xiao would have told me the same thing." Jin said, leaning back just a little, watching Kaiya beam and grin.

"Girlfriend?" she questioned.

"No, just a good friend." Jin told her, wondering why she had been so curious. He watched as she shrugged once again before standing up and dusting off the back of her pants. It was then that the sound of running feet were heard, prompting both him and Kaiya to turn. It was one of the students, the young girl who had fawned over him.

"Kaiya, Jin! Teacher and Ainsely want to see you!" she said, "They're in the main part of the dojo!"

Kaiya had been the first to stand, leaving Jin and the younger girl to follow behind her. He watched as she pushed open the door and stepped inside before he followed suit. He spotted Hashimoto and Ainsely standing in the center, the children off to the left and right sides of the matting on the floor, sitting cross legged quietly.

"Jin, Kaiya. Welcome to your graduation ceremony." Hashimoto spoke, his hands firmly behind his back.

"Ceremony?" Jin and Kaiya questioned in unison, looking at one another before their eyes fell on the two standing in the center.

"We've taught you everything we could," Ainsely began proudly, "It's time for you both to take flight and… leave the nest to speak."

"Already?! But…I'm _sure_ there's something else I could learn—" Kaiya began, but silenced herself when Hashimoto gave her a stern look.

Jin believed it would be a matter of time before he had finished his training, but he hadn't expected it to be done in the course of a few months. Was this their subtle way of kicking him out?

"You both have ten minutes to collect yourselves and prepare." Ainsely instructed next, "Go."

Jin made himself the first to leave quietly, Kaiya letting out a noise of confusion and following after him. Perhaps was time for him to leave; he had been here much longer than Kaiya had and according to Hashimoto, it was now time for him to go, or 'graduate' in this case. He had unlearned his family's fighting style with each passing day, and mastered the art of Karate. Jin wouldn't deny how good it felt to have something of his own, something that made him different from the likes of his father and grandfather and everything they stood for. Jin was determined to distinguish himself by any means possible. When he first started the process of unlearning what Heihachi taught him, it was extremely difficult. To put it simply, Hashimoto told him that he couldn't master anything with a mind clouded with constant thoughts of betrayal and anger.

Jin chose the art of traditional Karate because it meant that he'd have to purge himself of selfish and evil thoughts. It reminded him of some, if not all of the things Jun had taught him as a child. Listening to Hashimoto tell him that he needed to be humble on the inside and gentle on the outside taught him something completely new, and more importantly he was sure his mother would agree with him.

When Kaiya arrived at the dojo, he found himself eavesdropping on his old friend and her teacher Ainsely, who was apparently good friends with her father. Jin learned that Kaiya was a practitioner of the art of Taido styled karate. She told him that he could see it as an updated, if not different style of karate, one that required a bit of flexibility in tandem with strength but still maintained the same principles as the traditional one. She talked about Taido as if it was something she cherished dearly and as days passed, they wound up practicing together, going through their memories of each other. Of course, Jin purposely neglected to tell Kaiya about his mother and the beast that killed her until earlier today, but he had no problem sharing fonder memories of Jun. Sometimes, even those memories hurt simply because he never got over Jun's death.

Heaving a sigh, Jin sat down on the nearby futon that served as his bed and closed his eyes.

"Hey, why the frown?"

When he looked up and over, he found Kaiya standing in the doorway, dressed in her fighting attire, hair resting along her shoulders and her hands on her hips. She had a displeased look on her face and Jin could guess it was because of him. He had realized during their stay here he made her frown and pout quite a bit.

"It's nothing," he told her finally, reaching for the upper half of his gi, noting how her hazel-colored eyes followed every motion.

"Yeah, and I'm Mary, Queen of Scotts." Kaiya snorted, crossing her arms. "What's on your mind?"

"…My mother." Jin responded.

"You know, I think Jun-san would be proud of her son today!" Kaiya replied while walking further into his room, her hands folded behind her back. "And you know what? She'd be wearing a smile too. So why don't you do this for her, hm?"

Jin stared at the floor for a moment, and when he looked up, he saw Kaiya's hand outstretched toward him and a small smile on her lips.

"C'mon, you. Up and at 'em."

Feeling no need to hesitate, Jin took Kaiya's hand into his and pulled himself up. Once he was on his feet, he noticed her smile brighten.

"Let's go graduate, alright?"

~*~

Heihachi watched Kazuya tear through wave after wave of Tekken Force men, leaving body after body in his wake. Even after being dead for 20 years his strength was still impressive and as dangerous as before. Now, with a gun in hand, he pointed it at a single Tekken Force officer who had been backed against the wall. This one had a camera attached to his helmet as well, and Kazuya stared into it, breathing heavily. Unfortunately, all of the fighting had taken its toll on him and he had begun to tire.

"I'll…" he began, dropping the gun and choosing to use his fist and hurl it forward with everything he had left in him, striking both the officer and the camera, "take **everything **back!"

Take everything back? That was laughable! In fact, Heihachi began to chuckle, staring at the now static inducing feed as the soldiers on board the helicopter with him stared in disbelief.

"You wretched deluded fool…" he spoke.

He would get Kazuya, dead or alive. And he knew just how to lure both him and Jin out and into his clutches.

~*~

**End Notes**: Phew! Another chapter done! I battled with this one a bit (Heihachi and Jin, you guys are _difficult_), but I got it done! I'm sure you know what Heihachi does to lure his son and grandson out, you (hopefully) have it for PS2 and it's got a hooded Jin on the cover! With Heihachi announcing the tournament, Jin gets set to enter, but he encounters a problem. This problem happens to have hazel eyes, brown hair, and looks awfully pretty when she doesn't get her way. Hideki and Kazuya get a nasty surprise, and this in turn awards Mayumi a visit from someone. Stay tuned for the next installment! Reviews are always appreciated!


	4. Gravity Hurts

**Beginning Notes: **Yay I'm back with the fourth chapter after mass amount of video watching, music downloading, and Tekken replaying! I need to polish up some more on my fight scenes, and hooray I finally get to write a little more of the pairing, and include the announcement of the tournament.

**Disclaimer: **Same as always, I only own my Original Characters and other people that look like they don't belong.

_Blind Justice_

_Part Four: Gravity Hurts  
_

Kazuya stood upright, trying to catch his breath. He had all but killed the guard that had the camera attached to his head, using a lightning charged punch to dispatch of him. Heihachi got the message, he was certain of it. His eyes scanned the area for any more living Tekken Force soldiers, fists clenching hard enough to spur brief crackles of lightning. He then heard a loud cry of pain and the body of a Tekken Force soldier came hurdling toward him. Reflexes awarded him the ability to punch it out of the way, letting the unfortunate man hit against the metal wall. Hideki came jogging out of the shadows, facial expression stern.

"Hm," the man remarked, "I've never lost my touch."

Kazuya snorted and mumbled something inaudible as he switched out of an offensive position.

"Kazuya, we need to get down to the private hangar." Hideki continued speaking, walking past him and stepping over the bodies in the way. "It's only a matter of time before more soldiers infiltrate this area, and then soon enough the media will be attracted to this place like vultures to a carcass."

"Lead the way."

Both men headed toward a secret elevator, Hideki flashing his ID card against the laser eye and stepping on. Once boarded, the elevator shot downward past the basement level and then opened up to reveal the hangar. There, a sleek black car had been waiting, red tail lights blinking. The rear doors opened and Endo stepped out, nearly tripping over himself in attempts to make his frazzled appearance less noticeable.

"Let's go! Now!"

"Where the hell are we going?" Kazuya questioned, slamming the door shut behind him as Hideki pressed on the keypad. The dark-haired man spared Kazuya another glance and looked ahead as the doors opened slowly.

"Further into the more rural area. There's a less chance of any more attacks." he replied.

"What the hell could those bastards have been looking for?" Endo replied, adjusting his tie as the driver in front remained silent, exiting the area and shutting the doors behind him. It was easy for him to slip onto a nearby highway and then into smoothly flowing traffic.

"I managed to conduct a brief interrogation session with the last guard I disposed of," Hideki replied, "Under Heihachi's orders, the Tekken Force was supposed to infiltrate and take Kazuya's remains. However we've thrown a wrench into their gears. I don't think they were counting on Kazuya to be alive."

"Why the hell would that bastard want my remains?" Kazuya questioned.

"The only way you'd get any answers to that question is if you ask Heihachi himself. Unfortunately we've got to regroup first and fix up the damage to the best extent possible." Hideki responded, reaching into the breast pocket of his lab coat and pulling out a flash drive. "If the Tekken Force attacked here, I'm sure they attacked the other facilities in Nepal and Japan."

Kazuya remained silent, listening to Hideki and Endo's banter about the fate of G Corporation. It was one small attack here, but knowing his father, he knew Heihachi had to strike every part of this corporation. He never thought he would actually be on the run; it was unsettling to say the least. He found himself hoping that this regrouping of G Corporation would move swiftly, this way he could start planning again.

"…Kazuya." Hideki's voice uttered.

"What."

"Don't worry. You'll be able to get your claws into Heihachi soon enough."

"Knowing that bastard he's already taking steps to lure me back out." Kazuya replied.

"You mean…" Hideki trailed off.

"Yes."

Heihachi was inevitably going to announce a tournament. It was the best way to get the results he wanted and it worked every time from what Kazuya could remember.

"We'll be prepped by then. Our resources will be at your disposal." Hideki replied.

"You can't go over Kawamura's head like that!" Endo spat.

"Kawamura is more than likely **dead** in his office. We're preparing for a counter-strike with or without his orders!" Hideki said calmly. Kazuya remained silent, mulling over the thought of a counterattack against Heihachi. It wasn't what he wanted; he wanted Heihachi for himself. Of course there was no 'I' in team, but Kazuya was close to being a one-man army. His pride wouldn't allow the numbers of Tekken Force soldiers to get to him, nor did his pride allow him to give up. He wouldn't. If he was going to die, he was going to make sure that Heihachi died with him.

"…You'll regret those actions! You'll regret your betrayal!" Endo hissed before turning around in his seat and training his eyes on the lit road ahead.

"You couldn't stop my daughter from kicking some of your teeth out, so forgive me for believing that your threats are absolutely made of shit." Kazuya heard Hideki scoff, and he couldn't help but be amused at the mental image of a girl kicking this man's teeth out. Honestly, Endo's mouth would one day get him into trouble he couldn't repair. Hideki returned to punching in numbers on his phone and speaking to someone about an upcoming flight back to Japan and minor details concerning the recent research data and Kazuya's own voluntary service as said subject of research data.

When the car finally stopped, it pulled into a nearby hotel parking lot, next to another black car. The doors opposite Kazuya opened and a man clad in a black suit dipped his head down.

"Mister Sato, Mister Mishima. This way please. As per your instructions, we're in the process of completing your requests." the make spoke calmly.

"Requests?" Kazuya questioned, stepping out of the black car and into the snowy weather, Hideki on the opposite side.

"It's best I explain everything to you once we're in the safety of a heavily guarded room. Precautionary measures." the suit-clad man replied. Kazuya was the first to walk in, Hideki starting up a conversation with the man who was to be their security guard right behind him. The concierge and the other nearby staff said absolutely nothing, their heads suddenly dropping down and becoming interested in the marble floor or their computer screens. Once they were in the safety of their room, the door was shut and locked and Kazuya watched as Hideki finally relaxed, exhaling.

"As per your orders Mister Sato," the man spoke up again, "We've arranged a one-way flight on the G Corporation private jet for you and Mister Mishima right back to G Corporation's Japan base."

"Perfect. What about the research data?" Hideki questioned.

"The data in Nepal was stolen by Heihachi's forces, and any other data here in Nebraska's facilities has been stolen as well. All except the information on Mister Mishima. It was the only data we managed to secure before the place was crawling with Tekken Force soldiers. As far as we know, Heihachi has no data that concerns Kazuya."

"He doesn't need it." Kazuya interjected, "Now that he _knows_ I'm alive, he won't be touching G Corporation any more. He has no use for it now. Whatever he has stolen from your corporation in Nepal will be harnessed by people working for the Mishima Zaibatsu."

"We'll fix all of that at slowly but surely. Once we get into contact with Kawamura who's been safely re-located to a different room of this hotel, we can begin repair work."

Kazuya snorted, "When is our flight to Japan?"

"In a couple of hours. You'll be arriving the next day sometime in the early afternoon. The security and work crews will greet you there and you can continue to…" the man trailed off, sounding a bit confused.

"Don't worry. I'll handle things from there. Thank you for your services." Hideki responded. "You should get back to Kawamura immediately."

With stern nods, the guards left and Hideki shut the door.

"Someone certainly has more pull than they let on." Kazuya commented. Hideki chuckled.

"Deception awards you with a lot of things." was his last response.

"You don't sound guilty."

"Guilty? Kazuya, no offense but what would a ruthless man like you know of guilt? Mercy, maybe?"

"When your _father _is Heihachi Mishima, those things don't matter." Kazuya spoke darkly, "I knew of those things at one point in my…_previous_ life so to speak, but I don't particularly care for them now."

Hideki seemed to be formulating his next response, but it was clear that Kazuya had ended this conversation.

~*~

Jin watched as Kaiya opened the sliding door to the central dojo and he caught sight of the students and their teachers there, just like before. Silently they entered, with Kaiya closing the door behind her.

"Took you both long enough. Hopefully you're a bit more punctual in later events in life." Ainsley chuckled.

Kaiya shifted a little, clasping her hands together and then un-clasping them. She was finally nervous from what Jin could see and nothing had even started yet. Hashimoto cleared his throat, stepping forward.

"Like we've mentioned before, today is the day of your graduation ceremonies. Both of you have mastered your respective forms of martial arts, and it's time for you to continue and grow. We hope that in leaving this place, you take with you're the values we've taught you and the memories you've made." he said. He set his sights on Kaiya and Jin watched as she tensed up once more, uncertainty in her eyes. Was she beginning to doubt herself?

"Kaiya, your opponents—"

"_Opponents_?" Kaiya interrupted suddenly, her eyes widening just a little.

"Yes, opponents." Hashimoto responded, "Your opponents shall be Myself, Ainsley, and Jin."

"Isn't that a little much?" Kaiya questioned, her hand clasping one of the ties on her gi tightly. Jin himself was a little surprised; he wanted her to fight all of them? Obviously numbers weren't on her side in terms of her graduation.

"It's called a tenkai, dear." Ainsley spoke up, cracking his knuckles, "If you down all three of us once, you can officially declare yourself a graduate of this here academy!"

"Correct. However, if you're downed three times, it is apparently not your time to go." Hashimoto warned her.

"Three strikes and…I'm out, huh?" Kaiya questioned, her head drooping and her ponytail falling over one of her shoulders. Jin watched her for a couple seconds before looking at the other two men, concern flashing across his features.

"Maybe I shouldn't—" he started to say, but was silenced by Ainsley holding up his hand.

"Jin, we're well aware of your strength. But making it easy for Kaiya isn't going to help her. If you believe in her, you'll bring it full force. Being half-assed won't cut it."

"…He's right." Kaiya spoke up again, "You can't hold back. I can't…I can't let the numbers game get the better of me." Jin watched as she smiled slowly, although it was so obvious that her eyes couldn't lie. There had been the tiniest hint of fear and doubt in those hazel orbs of hers, and he feared it would be her undoing.

"Get up, Jin. Help me graduate, eh?"

"Oh, he will. And you'll help him." Ainsley remarked. "We'll be grading both your progress."

Jin pulled himself up and walked across the mat as the children began to cheer, moving out of their still positions and proceeding to clap and cheer. He watched Kaiya look around at the other students and she smiled briefly. When she turned to look at them again, any traces of doubt she had were gone. There had only been determination in her eyes this time. It was then Jin realized Kaiya got her strength from the people around her, and didn't rely on just herself. Maybe that was what was going to help her graduate.

'_If I'm supposed to be going at her with everything I have…I could kill her.' _Jin thought, watching as she dropped into her stance. She had perfected it over time, nothing was unbalanced, it was completely steady. That was enough notice for him and he prepared himself along with Hashimoto and Ainsley who had chuckled and switched into his own. The positive side of this was that Jin was awarded the opportunity to see both Kaiya and the art of Taido in action.

The moment Kaiya charged at him, Jin dropped into his second 'Mental Alertness' stance, crouching downward. He heard her say "Thank you!" and before he could react, she had essentially used him as a stepping stool to aim for either Ainsley or Hashimoto. If she hadn't taken him by surprise, then sure enough she had gotten one of the others. When Jin turned around sharply, he could see her foot connect with Ainsley's gut with enough force to make him stumble backward, creating more space between the two of them. She left him no room to recover completely, for she forward rolled into a low kick, leg extending to connect with his gut hard, knocking him backward and onto the floor.

"Yeah!" Jin heard one student cheer.

However, battle wasn't something one paused. Kaiya set her body into motion again, Hashimoto being the next closest person to her and briefly he wondered if she was purposely trying to eliminate the two of them first before saving him for last. Jin believed that wasn't the wisest decision. It was best to try and eliminate him first; he was the one that could really hurt her. If this was the case, she would pay for it.

He was rudely knocked out of his train of thought by a punch from Kaiya, her body twisting in a way to evade an incoming kick from Hashimoto. Jin barely had enough time to deflect said punch, his brown eyes narrowing as they met hers. She had a smile on her face, and things seemed to slow for a moment.

"Thought _I_ was gonna be the one zoning out."

Jin immediately countered with a left-right punch combination of his own, following it up with a sharp axe kick. Kaiya instinctively ducked and dodge-rolled out of the way and moved to sweep him off his feet. With his reflexes, Jin had gone backward but only into a spring kick which had connected with Kaiya's chest, sending her backward. He watched as she caught herself, rolling backward and then winding up on one knee. She turned sharply to deflect another incoming kick from Hashimoto. Once she was on her feet again, she had set to work in dodging a continuous assault from the elderly man who moved as if he were as young as they were. Jin put himself into motion again, positioning himself behind Kaiya, leaving her with the smallest window of opportunity to keep herself on her feet.

Hashimoto had ended his combination with a hard left roundhouse, and Jin timed the maneuver, using a kick of his own. Both of them connected, Kaiya taking shots to both the stomach and the kidneys. Jin heard her let out a pained cry and the observing students let out surprised cries. He watched as she sank to one knee, certain that the pain had already begun to make her body ache and sting slightly. He continued however, going to deliver a punch to effectively lay her out on the floor only to see her roll forward again and push herself up onto her feet, dropping into her stance again as she turned around to look at them. Jin was the first to go forward, attempting to hit her with an uppercut, only to watch her evade the move with a quick back flip. She didn't waste any time, having officially sunk into the groove of fighting without rest. She rushed at him with a left-right combination, stepping backward as he tried to kick her again. She slid back in again, grabbing his leg and extended one of hers in a kick, smacking his other knee hard enough for it to be heard and pain to immediately be felt. Before Jin could let himself hit the ground after she had let him go, he used his hands to perform a quick springboard and getting himself back onto his feet. There went that same pain again and he grit his teeth, eyes narrowing.

"Jin, are you—" Kaiya never got to finish her sentence, because he turned his head to see Hashimoto hit her with a double lift kick, launching her skyward. Jin didn't have time to wonder if he had screwed up his knee, he pulled himself up and added on to his teacher's attack with a Savage Sword, and he watched as it sent Kaiya falling away from them and onto the ground, rolling until she came to a stop.

"One." Hashimoto counted, standing upright. Jin watched as Kaiya curled into a ball partly, her hand going to clutch at her stomach as she tried to take deep breaths but failed, only able to get out short and shaky ones. Jin took this time to look briefly at his knee, which had been throbbing slightly, idly running his hand across it, as if it had been dusting off his pants. Nothing had been broken, but it had already started aching, which meant it would probably bruise over soon. By the time he looked over to see Kaiya again, she had been standing up, her hand still resting on her flat stomach while the other wiped at her mouth.

"I've still got two chances to beat you both. I'm gonna take them!" she panted and dashed toward them again.

"Did we hurt your pride?" Hashimoto mocked lightly, chuckling.

"No!" Kaiya responded, palms connecting with the elderly man's chest roughly, sending him stumbling back. She followed it up with a roundhouse kick and then a quick elbow strike downward. Hashimoto hit the wood floor with an audible thud and again Jin heard the students cheering. "My pride is just fine, sensei." she finished, smirking slightly.

Ever the smart girl, Kaiya made some distance between the two of them as Hashimoto was helped out of the way by Ainsley.

"Hey, your knee okay?" she asked him. Jin nodded; this injury wouldn't kill him. He wouldn't let something mediocre sideline him in any case.

"It's fine."

"Good! Didn't want to graduate at the cost of fucking up your plans, Eyebrows."

"I wouldn't let a thing like that happen, Puu-chan."

"Let's give them a show to remember, alright?"

"Let's."

They charged at one another, unleashing their best combinations. Each time they had been close to falling, they found it within themselves to recover and search for an opening, a chance to win this. Kaiya had made some space between them again, taking in much needed breaths and wiping at her face. Jin's pride wouldn't allow him to lose, and he could guess that Kaiya's pride was the only thing keeping her going. Both of them were fatigued, her ponytail now hanging low, brown strands every which-a-way, and the top half of her gi hanging loosely off one shoulder. Her stance remained polished, but her fists were lightly balled up. When Jin looked into her eyes, he could still see them burning with determination. _Something_ inside him made him want to snuff that determination out completely, and leave her lying in a broken mess. It was as if she posed a threat to him and his agenda concerning his family. Anyone who stood in the way of that was to be taken down, no matter who it was.

"Getting tired?" he asked her, a small smirk appearing on his face.

"I've only been downed once. It's gonna stay that way!" And before he could respond, she dashed toward him again. Jin took this moment to use her momentum against her, grabbing her extended fist and pulling her into an over the shoulder throw, putting her hard against mat, and he heard her let out a cry of pain.

"Two." he told her, backing up just in case she tried to recover with a sweep.

Kaiya picked herself up quickly, growling just a little. Jin wouldn't let her recover, for letting her gain the upper hand meant he would be the one on the floor and the match would be over. Of course, if he hurt her pride directly after his counter-hold, then she would blindly attack him.

"Not…gonna lose!" was what he heard her huff before she began to move. Jin focused all of his energy into one last punch, his stance pulling back slowly. He could feel it, red lightning generating only briefly, swirling around his body until it appeared just around a single fist. Kaiya had dashed forward and took to the air again, performing a leaping sidekick. At that moment, Jin extended his fist in that one punch.

They collided with each other, and respectfully they both went sailing in opposite directions due to the recoil. All Jin remembered was feeling the floor beneath him, Kaiya letting out a cry of pain, and then a few seconds later he realized he was down on the floor.

"Did I…" he trailed off.

"It's over!" Ainsley said, standing up from his seat with Hashimoto as the students quieted themselves, staring. Jin was able to shake the dazedness off enough to sit up, one hand against his knee. He could see Kaiya lying face down, completely still. He saw lightning crackle around her form at least twice and instantly he started thinking he might have overdone it, even if they had told him to not hold back. He should have, he wasn't like her. He was completely different…he was a monster.

"Kaiya!" he managed to get out, pushing himself to his feet completely and making his way over to her. He shook her once, twice, three times. Did he…did he kill her? Regret flashed in his eyes and he was only moments from kicking himself. She was supposed to be his friend and he killed her in what counted as a simple sparring match in technical terms. He was supposed to ignore whatever it was inside him that made him yearn to beat her, destroy her even.

"…Remind me to never…_ever_ do that again. Just…tell me to move the hell out of the way…" he heard Kaiya groan, and he sighed in relief.

"You took quite a hit there." Ainsley said, "Let's get you back to your room, alright?"

"Did…did I pass?" Kaiya asked, looking at Jin for an answer. He turned to look at Hashimoto again and the man nodded.

"Congratulations."

"Sweet…" Kaiya managed to say as she slowly pulled herself up.

"Take it easy, I nearly…" Jin started to say, stopping himself when he saw her wave at the children who had looked horrified only moments earlier. She had a smile on her face the entire time, even as she cradled her side.

"Now…that my test's over with…we should help Jin." she said finally.

"No!" Jin objected quickly, "No. You can hardly stand. Sit this out. I wouldn't be able to forgive myself knowing I hurt you even more. "

"…We're supposed to be helping each other!" Kaiya pointed out, "You're not my father or my significant other, so back off!"

"You'll only be worse off if you get involved!" Jin countered.

"I'll be worse off when I'm dead, now let's go!" Kaiya huffed, re-tying the strings on her gi.

"Kaiya, perhaps you should sit this one out." Hashimoto interjected.

"You too?!" Kaiya frowned.

"You're outnumbered dear, have a seat." Ainsley replied, laughing. Kaiya was not amused for a single moment and she turned sharply on her heels and walked out of the dojo, but not before waving a hand flippantly, whilst saying a slightly frustrated "Good luck, Jin". Jin could only watch her at first, her shadow still cast on the sliding door before it had disappeared out of sight. He hadn't been aware that he had been frowning as he watched her leave, for he would have appreciated her company at the very least.

"Shall we continue?" Hashimoto questioned. Ainsley pat his shoulder a couple of times, chuckling.

"Women, hm? Can't live with them, can't live without them! Don't worry about her Jin, you've got much more important things to take care of, don't you?"

Ainsley was right; Jin didn't have the time to worry about Kaiya. He had to concern himself with his grandfather and the Mishima Zaibatsu firstly. Once those were taken care of, maybe…

'_No._' Jin told himself, taking his spot across from Hashimoto, '_I'm ending everything_.'

~*~

As planned, Kazuya and Hideki's flight arrived in Japan during the afternoon hours, both clad in fresh clothes and flanked by a small sect of security guards. The weather had been rather nice in Hanamaki-cho from what Kazuya could see. The skies had been clear, the plane ride smooth and turbulence-free. They hadn't been tracked according to Hideki, and before Kazuya could even ask questions, they had been going by a simple but spacious car that had no plates to the Iwate prefecture. There hadn't been many buildings, they had slowly disappeared and soon Kazuya could only see stretches of comfortable homes and large fields with the occasional person farming and tending to the outside. It was eerily calm and quiet here, a nice place to meditate or hide.

"Where the hell are you taking me?" Kazuya asked.

"My home." Hideki responded as the car pulled to a stop, "It's away from the city, but it's got everything we need, giving us just enough time to keep an eye on Heihachi without him knowing.

"Hn. I have no need to stalk Heihachi." Kazuya replied, shutting the door and following the man up the small walkway and watched as he opened the door. The men who had rode with them assumed their posts, which hadn't been a couple of more paces away from the house. They had already taken steps to blend in with the quiet area, posing as residents.

"Mayumi!" Hideki called, his voice echoing throughout the house. That was when Kazuya spied a woman hastily coming out of the kitchen. She honestly couldn't have been taller than five feet, and her brown hair had been pulled back into a neat bun from what he could see. Her eyes were tired and he didn't have to ask if she was stressed—it showed.

"…Hideki? Hideki, you're home!"

"Only for a bit. Kazuya and I have something to take care of in the office." Hideki replied, returning the hug his wife had initiated. Kazuya remained quiet, not caring too much about his apparent friend's reunion with his wife.

"And our daughter?" Hideki continued, "How is she?"

"She's gone, Hideki." Mayumi sighed, her eyes glazing over at the thought of it.

"Gone?!"

"She said she went to find your friend in Australia. Brisbane."

"…That girl…" Hideki growled.

"I wouldn't get angry." Kazuya pointed out, "You haven't bothered to keep in touch with her, you shouldn't be surprised she isn't here."

When he felt Mayumi's eyes on him, he could only glare at her, a deep frown on his face, and that in turn made her cringe only briefly before she found her voice again.

"You…you look oddly familiar…"

"It's Kazuya." Hideki interrupted.

"You—It…it actually…Hideki, you revived him?!"

"Yes, it was a success, but that's the least of our worries right now. Heihachi Mishima had his forces invade the G Corporation facility in Nebraska looking for data pertaining to Kazuya. It's a long story Mayumi. I'll tell you when everything is settled."

"So you're leaving again?"

"…There are guards positioned close to this house, they're blended in as Hanamaki residents."

"Do yourself a favor and don't leave this house." Kazuya interjected. Hideki headed down the empty hallway until he reached the end, kneeling down to pull open a hatch. Kazuya could hear the thumping sounds in the distance, and soon Mayumi had been following after her husband, mumbling something about her family deserting her.

Annoyed, Kazuya simply turned around to look out the window where he could see an elderly woman working away in a nearby field. Something about this place was calm, quiet, and close to being dead. No wonder Hideki and his offspring might have longed to leave. He would credit the man however; this might have been the perfect hiding place. When he heard Mayumi's voice getting louder, it prompted him to look over his shoulder. The small woman had been holding papers in her arms and Hideki had been following after her.

"At least Kaiya has made the effort to let me know her training in Australia is going quite well." Mayumi began, setting the papers down onto the coffee table. They appeared to be letters from what Kazuya could see. They had been written in rushed, but still very readable kanji. One particular letter stuck out to him, for in that same ink he was able to make out 'Kazama Jin'.

"When is she supposed to be returning here?" Hideki asked, a frown still on his face.

"Hopefully we'll be getting a letter in a couple of days." Mayumi responded.

"We don't have a couple of days." Hideki sighed, and Kazuya had been busy reaching for letter. Mayumi had been distracted, so there wouldn't be any harm done. According to this letter, Kaiya had been doing well and she had managed to reunite with Jin, who had been there for his own personal reasons, reasons that she was not to disclose to anyone else.

Kazama Jin.

It had to Devil responsible for making Kazuya's blood boil as an untold, sudden anger rose within him before he calmed himself. Kazuya had lost apart of himself twenty years ago and if his suspicions were right, he would take what he needed from Jin Kazama. However in the deepest recesses of his mind, an intensely faint vision of a woman he had known those same twenty years ago appeared. She had been inexplicably drawn to Kazuya, and Kazuya had let his guard down once and only once.

'Jun.' he thought.

Jun ignored his warnings time and time again, and Kazuya swore she would pay the price for it, but somehow he couldn't bring himself to kill her then. That was the first time he had shown a modicum of weakness. He left her there alone in all attempts to take revenge on his father. Unfortunately, things didn't turn out as planned.

'_It seems that twenty years later…the chance to have everything in my grasp has appeared again._'

Kazuya wouldn't fail again.

"Kazuya, you mentioned something about Heihachi knowing the way to lure you out." Hideki's voice pulled him away from his thoughts, "What way was that?"

"A tournament…The King of Iron Fist Tournament." Kazuya responded, putting the piece of paper back down onto the coffee table, his eyes still on Jin's name. "Usually the prize is the Mishima Conglomerate itself, provided the last entrant defeats Heihachi."

"And you have no doubts he'll announce it?" Hideki asked.

"Of course I have no doubts. And I'm going to enter." Kazuya snorted, crossing his arms again.

"I hope Kaiya doesn't do anything reckless out there…" Mayumi sighed, "Part of me worries that I won't get a letter from her anymore."

"She'll come home." Hideki replied, "If she doesn't, I'll drag her back if I have to."

Kazuya thought Hideki's words were laughable. What good was trying to be a father now? His offspring had run off to an entirely different country and Kazuya was certain it was because Hideki himself had neglected to keep in touch with his wife and said child. If Jin was who Kazuya thought he was—and he _was_—then Kazuya had missed twenty years of his son's life and there was no point in trying any longer, not that he wanted to. The only thing he wanted from Jin was the power he lost when Heihachi killed him.

"Well, if Heihachi is going to announce this tournament, isn't it wise of you to start training for it?" Mayumi questioned, hearing the house phone ring in the kitchen. She folded up the letters quickly and stood up.

"There is a small area in the back if you need to use it Kazuya." Hideki added on. Kazuya didn't need to be told twice, he exited throughout the back and his eyes roamed across the clean empty space. It had been several months and he would need to hone his skills even further. If he was to be staying here, then he might as well help the time to pass. When he looked over his shoulder, he spied Mayumi there. She bowed only slightly, her hands folded together.

"I hope this is suitable for you, Mishima-san."

"It will have to do." Kazuya replied, walking further into the empty area and hearing the door slide shut. He liked having some time for himself, since he'd been revived he'd been surrounded by mostly useless people. As far as his 'friend' Hideki was concerned, there possibly would be a time that the man would outlive his usefulness, but for now Kazuya would take what he could get from the man.

~*~

It had stretched well into the evening, the fight between Jin and the Dojo Grand Master Hashimoto seeming as if it had no end in sight. The spectating children had been unable to keep their eyes off of the fight, 'oohs' and 'aahs' chorusing every now and then when it looked as if one side was going to concede defeat. Jin knew what he was fighting for and the old man knew what Jin was fighting for. It had taken months and months for Jin to make it this far and Hashimoto had no intent of taking it easy on him.

"Getting tired?" Hashimoto teased lightly, chuckling.

Jin had been trying to catch his breath, body aching and muscles burning. Even Hashimoto was beginning to show signs of fatigue but his stance remained as resolved as ever and there had been a small smile on his face.

"N-no…" Jin lied, going to make the first move. He slid forward, right fist charged with lightning as he went to perform an uppercut. Blindsided by the sudden spark of lightning, Hashimoto's side had connected with Jin's fist and before he could react he had gone sailing across the floor, landing hard enough to dent the wood. The children let out gasps as Ainsley jumped up out of his seat, mouth agape. When Jin dropped his arm to his side, a shooting pain coursed throughout his knee and it forced him to stagger as Hashimoto sat up slowly, a very small smile on his face.

"Congratulations, Kazama-san." he responded.

Jin's facial expression remained calm, even as he bowed respectfully to the Grand Master and the children interrupted in raucous cheering, some of them congratulating Jin repeatedly. When the other man gave him permission to leave, he turned slowly and stepped forward, feeling his knee give way slightly. He tried his best to cover it up but he failed miserably, resorting to limping out of the area and rounding the corner. He nudged something lightly on the way back to his room and when he looked down he saw Kaiya lying there face down.

"Kaiya!"

Jin moved to pick her up, but his knee picked a wonderful time to crap out on him and before he could steady himself against a nearby wall, he fell backward with an audible thud. The commotion caused Ainsley to come out of the main training area to see the two of them on the floor Kaiya unconscious and Jin glaring at his injured knee.

"Looks like you both need a visit from the doctor…" Ainsley chuckled.

~*~

"What's the damage, doc?"

Jin had been staring at his heavily bruised knee while frowning, and Kaiya had another visible pout on her face as she held a hand against her newly bandaged side. Ainsley had asked the doctor that question, all the while highly amused that the two of them were sitting there like children who had gotten caught with their hands in the cookie jar.

"Nothing's broken, just some minor bruising and swelling for Jin. It's nothing a couple days of rest won't cure. As for you Kaiya, you've got some bruised ribs. You need to take it easy as much as possible. If you have too much trouble breathing, you should report back to me immediately." the doctor explained.

Kaiya sighed before she winced, pain very much present. "Yeah yeah…" she grumbled.

"I'm sorry." Jin apologized, frowning at her.

"Don't. I mean, it's not your fault I shouldn't have tried to stop you from doing whatever it was you were doing…I let my pride take over." Kaiya responded softly.

"I let mine as well…" Jin responded, remembering that dark voice inside the back of mind, telling him that Kaiya needed to be destroyed, for she was an obstacle in his way. Kaiya was only trying to pave the way for herself, pave the way for whatever reasons she had and he was so close to killing her outright. He felt so much more guiltier than usual and that forced him to focus his sights on a spot on the wall.

"Well, let's go back and rest okay?" Kaiya replied, nudging Jin lightly. When he turned to look at her, she had been smiling again and he found himself shifting his eyes away from her every now and then, only managing a nod. That's when he heard Ainsley laugh heartily as the doctor excused himself from the room to collect his medical bag.

"You guys can help each other get better!" he teased lightly.

After the doctor had left, Kaiya entered into the hallway, Jin limping slightly after her. Hashimoto appeared again, having taken the opportunity to clean himself up. Three or four of the children were standing behind him with glassy eyes and hopeful expressions on their faces.

"Are you guys okay?!" one boy asked.

"We're fine! Just a little banged up!" Kaiya replied quickly, reaching to pat the little boy on the top of his spiky blond hair. "It's nothing we can't handle."

"Jin. Kaiya. I need to speak with you both." Hashimoto replied, shooing the children off, giving them the gesture to go play. Jin's eyebrows raised in surprise as Kaiya turned around, wincing a little and raising a hand to touch along her new bandages.

"While you both were being seen and taken care of by the doctor, the newspaper was dropped off here at the dojo. I figured it would be of interest to you both, you in particular, Jin." Hashimoto explained. He lead Kaiya and Jin into his small office in the back, far away from any noise and distraction. He reached into one of the nearby cabinets and pulled out a newspaper clipping. The clipping advertised the Fourth King of Iron Fist Tournament, a picture of a rather proud Heihachi Mishima standing in front of a caged fighting space. Jin's eyes widened and his fist clenched tightly as Kaiya let out a noise of surprise.

"That's…" she started.

"Yes. Heihachi is throwing a new tournament, the prize being the financial corporation itself. It's going to start in a couple more days and I figured you both would be interested." Hashimoto replied.

Jin stared at the advertisement for as long as he possibly could. Almost instantly did the memories of his grandfather's betrayal surface again, his anger flaring up and causing a currently dull throbbing sensation in his skull that became much more prominent the more he thought about staring down the barrel of that gun his grandfather held in front of him. He was taken away from his thought train by a hard hit to the arm from Kaiya. Hashimoto seemed to give her a small nod before he attempted to take the paper away from Jin. He had understood Jin's anger, his rage, and it took Jin some time to keep it under control. He wouldn't have been able to master anything in his rage induced state.

"Jin, stop before you burn a damned hole into the paper." Kaiya told him and Jin could only glare at her before his grip on the advertisement loosened.

"Don't give me that look!" Kaiya huffed, glaring back.

"Both of you, pay attention." Hashimoto intervened. "You'll both need some time to recuperate from your injuries. Once you're given the green light, I assume you'll only be returning to Japan to enter and tie up some loose ends. I recognize that you both have been extremely busy here training and perfecting your styles so you haven't been tuning into the world news. Just about a couple of days ago, the major biogenetics firm, G Corporation was ambushed, their data stolen."

"Dad's place of work? Wh…why?!" Kaiya asked.

"The details are rather vague, only physical damages to the facilities were published, as well as casualties." Hashimoto replied.

"…Damnit. Tousan what did you do…" Kaiya sighed under her breath.

"Now isn't the time to be angry. Now is the time for rest. You'll be able to ask plenty of questions when you return home." Hashimoto said, putting the paper away in his desk. "You both are dismissed. Don't do anything to aggravate your injuries."

Jin nodded, and Kaiya had already been getting up and excusing herself. She headed back down the hallway, uttering something.

"Stupid…what the hell did he get himself into now?! All of this for a dead man…"

Jin had been the next to leave, one his hands reaching out to grab at Kaiya, succeeding in grabbing the tail of her shirt and forcing her to a stop. "Kaiya. What exactly was your father researching?"

"I told you before Jin, Kazuya Mishima. They wanted to try and bring him back."

"…Your father's corporation is stupid. They don't know what they've gotten themselves into!" Jin hissed.

"I'm sure they don't, but…do you really think they'll be successful in bringing back a body that has been in a volcano for damn near _twenty _years?! That body should be a pile of ashes, Jin! _Ashes_!" Kaiya insisted, continuing down the hall only to be stopped by Jin pulling on her shirt again, forcing her backward and aggravating her ribs.

Jin felt something in the pit of his stomach, and he really wanted to tell Kaiya that it _was _possible, because his family did not consist of ordinary men, but he chose to remain silent for a moment.

"Let go!" she hissed back at him, trying to pull herself away.

"Kaiya, you don't understand. Kazuya is evil!"

"Jin, your whole damn family is evil." Kaiya retorted, "You kinda get that title when all you do is fight and betray one another…If you kill them, will you find inner peace?"

Inner peace wasn't what Jin had been going for. Once Kazuya and Heihachi were gone, the only thing left to do was to get rid of himself. Any dreams of a family he had as a child were long since shattered and put away. What joy was there in knowing your own offspring had to suffer because of something their great grandfather and grandfather had done years before they were even a thought in the world? The Mishima bloodline was a bloodline Jin did not want to continue, not if it was responsible for tearing things apart.

"…Yes." he half-lied.

Kaiya eased herself out of his grasp, a frown on her face. "Jin, I don't think you're like them...no, I _know_ you're not like them." When he didn't answer her, he heard her sigh.

"If you're gonna enter, I'm gonna enter too. I wanna help."

"I **don't** want or need your help." Jin replied quickly, not even wanting to think about Kaiya jumping headfirst into something as dangerous as this. If she had gotten hurt while training, she probably wouldn't stand a chance against the entrants. There were always one or two participants that weren't human. When he saw her eyes narrow and one of her hands come to rest on her hip—the other one was still against her bandages—he crossed his arms.

"Jin, there's _no_ way you're jumping into this alone!" she told him.

"You aren't helping me. You're going to go home the moment your ribs are better." Jin sighed again.

"You're not my father, I'm not going to listen to you!" Kaiya hissed at him. Jin let out a frustrated grunt and before he knew it they were both standing in the hallway, glaring at each other for a good minute or two.

"Kaiya—" Jin started to protest again.

"I'm not letting you run off so you can pull a disappearing act for another seven years, stupid!" she blurted before she covered her mouth with one hand.

"Both of you should stop arguing like children and go rest." Hashimoto's amused voice said finally as he walked in between the two of them, "Arguing and standing around isn't going to hasten your recoveries."

Kaiya uttered something again, with Jin watching as she slowly turned around and headed back to her room as quickly as she could. When she rounded the corner he heard her door slide shut hard.

"Women. Fickle creatures, aren't they?" Hashimoto chuckled.

"Excuse me?" Jin questioned, puzzlement written across his face. He could only watch as the old man continued on his way down the hall, chuckling all the while. Soon even he was out of the other man's sights and then Jin himself retired to his room. Once inside he slowly made his way down onto the laid out futon and sat there, Kaiya's words echoing in his ears. She had never mentioned this to him before, she seemed genuinely happy to him, for she was the one who was able to wear a smile on her face, the one who had been so warm and friendly. It was a little difficult knowing he might have upset her.

Kaiya reminded him of Xiaoyu in so many ways, but he remembered his pig-tailed friend being nowhere near as defiant, stubborn, and…extremely pouty. It had been funny when they were children and now it had been…cute.

"Cute?" Jin questioned aloud, looking outside and up at the stars that twinkled across the sky. No, no…Kaiya wasn't cute. She was his friend, a friend he didn't want to get hurt because she decided to follow him. Jin couldn't allow Kaiya to be a distraction, any distraction would cost him.

_If you kill them, will you find inner peace?_

_You can beat your demons…I don't think you're weak and I don't think you're a monster either._

_You're a good person._

Kaiya's words had surfaced in Jin's thoughts again and he found himself trying to swat them away, a voice nagging at him in the back of his mind. For every time he heard Kaiya's voice telling him that he was a good person, that voice in the back would contradict her words and tell him the direct opposite.

_If you kill them_, **destroy everything and every one else**.

_You can beat your demons_…**No you can't. I'll never let you go.**

_I don't think you're weak…_**you're strong, strong enough to rip her apart.**

_I don't think you're a monster…_**but you **_**are**_** a monster, you're nothing but a monster. You crave power. You crave destruction. And when she realizes it, she'll push you away.**

_The Jin Kazama I'm looking for is still alive. _**All that exists is us. I am apart of you. I'm the embodiment of your anger…your hatred, your rage. I'm the force that drives you to kill your family, I'm the force that drives you to shut them all out.**

Jin's head started to throb and he grit his teeth again, his eyes squeezing shut as he tried to differentiate between Kaiya's voice and the voice that sounded so much like his own. That voice had gotten louder, stronger, and it was like Kaiya's voice was nothing but a whisper. He wanted to reach for her voice, reach for _anything_ that would stop him from listening to the other one. It was awful knowing that the voice contradicting Kaiya's was his own, and it only made Jin loathe himself and his family that much more.

He stood up and headed out of his room, making his way down the hallway and toward Hashimoto's office. The light had been on, meaning the man must have still been awake. Raising his hand, he knocked a couple of times, opening the door all the way after hearing a quick "Enter."

"Ah, Jin. Still awake at this hour?"

"My apologies if I've disturbed you."

"No, not at all. Please, sit down." Hashimoto pushed his keyboard and mouse aside and folded his hands neatly. "You look vexed. What seems to be the problem?"

"It just might be the tournament getting to me…but as of late, since Kaiya and I argued with each other earlier…I can't stop thinking about her." Jin replied slowly, watching as Hashimoto's facial expression changed to one of mild amusement. "I mean…she doesn't understand how dangerous this tournament is and I don't want her to get hurt…it's just that…"

"You're smitten with her." the man said simply, trying to stifle a chuckle, but failing.

"…What?" Jin questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"Really, the both of you are terrible at things like this." Hashimoto continued, "I thought you would have figured it out when she pointed out your seven-year disappearance from her life. If it wasn't obvious she cared about you back then, it's obvious now."

"I don't get it…why would she…" Jin trailed off, trying to wrap his mind around it all. He shook his head, eying the other man again. "Why would I be smitten with her, when every time I think of the things she's told me, my _own_ voice contradicts her words?"

"It's called doubt, Jin." Hashimoto replied. "You're thinking of every possible thing to stop yourself from liking her back or at least letting her in. Isn't that what you've been doing to your friends back in Japan? What were their names…hm…"

"Miharu and Xiaoyu…but I was only looking out for their best interests." Jin responded.

"Looking out for their interests or keeping them at arms length? Jin, it might have been easier with them, but it may be a tad difficult now because Kaiya is pushing against your attempts." Hashimoto replied, standing up. "Now, this old man is tired and needs his rest. You youngsters did quite some damage today. Why don't you use the tournament you plan to enter as a plausible distraction?"

Before Jin could say anything, the other man was already gone and heading down the hallway. If he listened hard enough, he swore he could hear some chuckling. Throwing his head into his hands, he heaved another long sigh.

"Mother, why weren't you around a little longer to at _least_ tell me that girls were so complicated?"

~*~

* * *

**End Notes:** I realize that Jin doesn't get a couple moves until Tekken 5 but hey, I've bent canon enough already, what's a little more! It took me a while to come through with this, suffering with some writer's block and procrastinating, so I figured finishing this very lengthy—8,772+ words apparently—installment would be something of an early birthday present to myself. The Mishima clan is a difficult bunch to contend with, but I like a challenge. I wanted to finish this before Tekken 6 drops, but it looks like that isn't going to happen, not that it's going to be a problem. Enough of my rambles, must go back to starting the fifth chapter. There's flashbacks, Kaiya and Jin returning to Japan and Kaiya meeting the man responsible for making her angry with her father. There's some spazzing to ensue! Review are appreciated.


	5. Embers

**Author's Notes: **I'm back again! Oh no! Nah, I'm kidding. I've finally started getting into some more stuff involving this and I'm happy to say this is another piece of work of mine that I've been enjoying so far. So much I wanna do with this, but so little time! Scenes in Italics are flashbacks, but that's obvious! Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **It hasn't changed, you know. I do not own Tekken, it belongs to Namco! I only own my original characters and things that look like they do not belong. Suing won't get you anything.

_Blind Justice_

_Part Five: Embers_

"These…these aren't ordinary gloves are they, Mishima-san?" Mayumi's soft voice asked as she ran her fingers over the leather a couple of times. The material was definitely worn and she hadn't even seen the man for the past two days for more than a minute, maybe even two if he was in a talkative mood. All she heard were the sounds of Kazuya training in the dojo her husband and daughter used to inhabit daily.

"No. Can you at least fix them?" Kazuya asked in a less-than-enthused tone.

"I can. It's just a matter of getting some good leather for the material, the buckles too. Not to mention the metal studs you have on them." Mayumi replied simply, having not glanced at him once. There had been something about Kazuya that had been intimidating and just downright terrifying. There were times in the spare glimpses she had taken of him where that surgically repaired iris of his began to glow eerily and it sent a chill down her spine every time.

The leather of his gloves looked like they were charred by something extremely hot, the edges burnt and frayed. If he was entering a tournament that stretched on for who knows how long, then he needed much more durable gloves.

"Give me a couple of hours and the gloves will be as good as new." Mayumi replied, standing up out of her chair.

"I'll give you three." Kazuya snorted and before Mayumi could make any objections, he was off into the dojo again. The woman heaved a sigh, collected the gloves again and headed toward the front door, slipping into her shoes. She grabbed a small notepad and wrote something down before heading out into relatively cool weather.

"Sato-san!" the neighbors greeted as she passed by their houses, and even those disguised G Corporation security guards nodded their heads at her in greetings. Mayumi kept her pace at a quick one; as much as she loved to stop and talk to her neighbors, Kazuya had put her on a time crunch. He didn't even live here and she heeded to his every beck and call when he made it because he was a guest, and no matter how intimidating and scary they were, she made a note to be polite to them. She didn't like the mental images of being harmed by any of them either.

When Mayumi returned home and sat down in the living room, materials strewn out on the table, she set to work in silence. She had never forgotten sewing together durable materials. She had done it for Hideki and Kaiya multiple times before. It seemed that every two weeks they would come in and gesture to the spots that needed repair work. Now that her husband had holed himself up in his personal office to try and secretly repair the damage that the Mishima Zaibatsu had caused, and not to mention whatever he had planned with Kazuya, Mayumi needed something else to distract her.

As she sewed the leather shut with the machine, she sighed. Even with her husband home, it still seemed that he really wasn't there and things weren't what she expected them to be. She thought that now that he was home, they could wait for Kaiya to return and then everything would be alright. But with the new circumstances…and their new houseguest, it looked like Hideki would be leaving with Kazuya once the tournament began and Mayumi would go back to days of no phone calls or e-mails.

"Almost done…" she trailed off, reaching for the glue gun to apply some last minute touches around the fingers and apply the buckles. When she admired her finished work, she also noted her red fingers. She had pricked herself countless times and only now had she been aware of how much they hurt. If it were any other time, she wouldn't have minded repairing something of her family's. Kazuya was anything but.

Mayumi had just put the finishing touches on the gloves when Hideki walked into the living room, glasses on the top of his forehead.

"Anything new?" Mayumi asked, very uninterested.

"Teams in Nebraska are in the process of fixing up the physical damages and dealing with the media storm. The base in Japan is dealing with Nepal. Anything regarding the data would have to be taken back from the Mishima Zaibatsu apparently." Hideki replied.

"Casualties?" was the smaller woman's next question as she picked up the glue gun again for another minor application.

"After the infiltration of both bases, casualties total fifty, twenty-five for each." Hideki replied. "The numbers have remained the same."

"Kawamura-sachou?" Mayumi asked.

"Now declared missing."

Mayumi had been ready to ask another robotic question when the door slid open, revealing a sweaty but satisfied Kazuya.

"Are they finished?" he asked.

"Right there on the table, Mishima-san." was Mayumi's response as she headed into the hallway toward the closet and opened the door. She could feel Kazuya's eyes on her, and she heard the leather squeezing together only seconds later. Mayumi had made sure that the studs were firmly in place and that the leather was top notch. It was in her nature to strive to be perfect, it never changed.

"Thank you." Kazuya said, "Your work is appreciated."

"Thank you, Mishima-san…The metal studs are the same, the material strengthened. They should last you for a while. I hope that your training has gone smoothly during your stay here."

"There are some dents in your floor. My apologies." Kazuya replied. Mayumi didn't have to question the false sincerity in his voice; he didn't exactly care, he was just making idle conversation with her, at least when Hideki was around.

"It's nothing some minor repair work won't fix, if it's becoming too much of a hassle for you, the outside space is available to you too."

"The tournament starts tomorrow. I've done all I've needed to."

"Very well. Best of luck to you tomorrow." Mayumi finished, bowing slightly and retreating to her room. Suddenly, the home she had cherished so much had become depressing and lonely. She found herself wishing that her daughter would return soon already so she would have at least one speck of normalcy. If not Kaiya's return, then Mayumi would have to leave her own home.

'_What is happening to everything I've ever known and loved?_'

~*~

"_I've noticed something."_

"_What's that?"_

"_You have this fondness for flames and fire."_

_Kaiya had been watching Jin train on what was to be their last morning in the dojo in Brisbane. Hashimoto and Ainsley stressed the point of Kaiya resting, but to Jin it seemed that in doing so it made the girl restless. The moment his knee was better and in working condition Jin made it a point to get in a small amount of training. With the tournament so close to starting, he had to put all of his focus into working on things he felt he could've done better. He hadn't come to terms with the conversation that Hashimoto had with him concerning Kaiya, not until he had gone to sleep that evening and found that his dreams weren't plagued with the normal anger and despair they usually held. They had been…odd. Interesting if he wanted to think positive. Now he liked having her around him. Sure she still got bitchy when he told her she couldn't fight alongside him, but Jin was used to it._

"_I do?" he asked, assuming one of his stances._

"_Yeah. It's on your gi…your pants and your hood. Even on your gauntlets." Kaiya nodded._

"…_I guess I do." Jin replied, giving a very brief shrug before turning his attention back to a couple of more moves._

"…_My mom used to tell me that my element was fire. I thought she was being silly, but…she told me that fire is like this agent of transformation. It brings heat…and it represents things like energy, assertiveness, and passion. It helps and it hinders. It warms you, and then it can burn you." Kaiya replied, "…It's always active."_

_Jin watched her stand and walk over to him until she was standing alongside him. When he resumed his maneuvers again, she moved with him until they were in sync._

"_You know, I think it's a nice thing to be fond of. It kinda reminds me of you anyways. You were totally passive as a kid to me…you were really nice, even if you did call me that stupid nickname. After seven years, it's…well…you're not as passive to me anymore. You're quiet, yeah, but you've got plenty of energy and assertiveness. I heard that even with a banged up knee you were determined to hold out against sensei."_

_Jin would've asked how the unconscious could hear anything, but he held his peace._

_Kaiya smiled, "I think that's why you're gonna finish what you need to in this tournament. You're really determined, Jin."_

_She turned toward him and they bowed respectively, "I'm determined too. You're gonna get my help, whether you like it or not."_

"_Kaiya, I don't want you to get hurt…"_

"_Blah blah blah, it's like a broken record with you, y'know." Kaiya said, rolling her eyes. "You're not pushing me away this time. I'd be too mad at myself if I sat by and did nothing."_

"…_you have to promise me you'll be careful." Jin replied._

"_I'll be extra careful, I promise." Kaiya replied, hazel-colored eyes lighting up and Jin couldn't stop the small smile from appearing on his face._

"_Good."_

Jin made her promise to be careful, but he already knew the girl would be reckless. If he was the passive fire, she was the one that burned recklessly and would be quick to get doused. He couldn't picture a depressed Kaiya, it wasn't in her nature. So, to cover his bases and protect her, he decided to leave her behind and return to Japan first. Kaiya still didn't have any idea of just who his grandfather was, or who the Mishima Zaibatsu was. She still had no idea of the power that coursed through Jin's own veins, and it stemmed from the mark branded on his arm.

"Jin," Ainsley began, "Your car's waiting."

"Give me a moment." Jin responded, going back inside the dojo and quietly making his way to Kaiya's room. When he opened the door, he saw her sleeping peacefully, brown hair stretched out along the pillow, one hand on her now bandage-free side. Jin could already imagine the anger etched onto her face. He was sure she'd be pouting, cursing his name, and swearing to the Gods above come late morning. They agreed to return together, but Jin broke this agreement after a couple moments of hesitation.

"…Sorry, Kaiya." he said quietly, and he waited for her to spring awake and at least smack him in the face. Maybe then she'd get him to stay and…

'_No. You're leaving.'_

When she didn't move, Jin sighed in relief and he leaned down and pressed his lips against her forehead. If he gave himself a few seconds, he'd then be in disbelief about it. If he didn't know any better, there was some heat rushing to his cheeks as the memories of her words about fire representing passion reappeared in his mind. He left her room just as quietly as he entered and when he reached the outside again, it seemed that Hashimoto had joined Ainsley.

"You know she's going to be upset."

"…I know."

"You are aware that this attempt at keeping her at arms length like your friends is going to fail right?"

"…Kaiya will just have to find me."

"You're only going to make it a point not to be found, of course. Be on your way, and conquer what you need to conquer. Just know that hell hath no fury like a woman who's been hurt." Hashimoto replied, chuckling.

"If I can withstand being shot by my own grandfather, I think I can withstand an angry Kaiya." Jin replied, walking toward the car. "Thank you, for everything."

"You're very welcome Jin. Good luck."

~*~

True to Jin's words, Kaiya was _angry _when she woke up to find that no trace of Jin was located in the dojo any more. As she packed the remainder of her belongings, she cursed and muttered incoherent things under her breath as Ainsley and Hashimoto chose to simply listen after calling for a taxi. With the car waiting outside, Kaiya cheered herself up long enough to bid the children and her teachers a goodbye, and make promises to send postcards from Hanamaki-cho.

"That stupid jerk…" she grumbled under her breath over and over as she walked trough the crowds of people at the airport, now free of her luggage save for a carry-on bag. She had to find positive things to think about, like the fact that she was returning home to her mother, and returning to Hanamaki. While it wasn't as busy as a place like Tokyo it was the minor things that counted. Her neighbors there were so nice and friendly, they treated her as family. Kaiya couldn't fathom misfortune befalling the quiet place; it didn't deserve something like that.

After an exceedingly long flight, it had been mid-evening in Hanamaki, only faint traces of dusk remaining. Stars had begun littering the sky, countless specks of light painting the darkness. Hanamaki had always been wonderful at night.

"Wonder if Jin ever takes the time to enjoy a pretty night sky when he isn't obsessing over his intense hatred…" Kaiya mumbled to herself thoughtfully as the taxi turned onto the road where several houses rested, her own home not quite in plan view yet.

_It's better than any skyscraper at night._

When the car came to a stop, Kaiya paid the driver the very last of her money and fetched her own luggage from the trunk, shutting it quickly and giving it two taps, signaling the driver to pull off and make his return to the airport. The lights were on, meaning her mother was awake. If she guessed right, she was making dinner, a dinner that everyone would sit together for.

"Ah, Jin, you idiot…" Kaiya began, walking up the walkway, pulling her luggage along lazily, "You should've waited. I think my mother would have liked you."

Fishing out her keys, she unlocked the door and pushed it open.

"Kaasan! I'm home!" she called, a smile creeping onto her face. The scent of fried shrimp flooded the house and to her it was as if she never left. She walked further inside and shut the door behind her as Mayumi rushed out of the kitchen oven mitts still on her hands. Almost instantly did Kaiya see tears flood her mother's eyes, and before she could get out any other sounds her mother launched herself at her, locking her in a tight embrace.

"You're home! You're finally home!"

"Ah ha…yeah…I'm home…" Kaiya responded slowly.

"I was so worried when you didn't send a letter like you usually do! I thought something might have happened and your training didn't go well!" Mayumi said, finally releasing her daughter and looking over her shoulder and down the hallway. "Hideki! Kaiya's home!"

Kaiya tried to keep a straight face when she heard rapid footsteps in the distance, and then when her father's tall frame appeared in the doorway. She couldn't read the expression on his face, but it still contrasted Mayumi's obvious elation.

"…Ainsley told me to send his well wishes." was all she said.

"I'm glad you're alright." Hideki replied.

"Why wouldn't I be? I kept up with my training. The art of Taido can't die with you, right?" Kaiya spoke quietly before her lips pursed into a thin line, having gone back into calculating her next response. She was still angry at her father for leaving. Hideki was supposed to teach her everything he knew about Taido. Even though he pushed her to limits she thought she couldn't surpass, she still enjoyed the training because it was him teaching her. The question 'why' edged on the corner of her lips now that she could actually see him in person.

"Dinner's almost done, and your room is just the way you left it! You can unpack later on!" Mayumi spoke suddenly, as if she had been trying to defuse the tension that made itself apparent in mere seconds. She tugged on Kaiya's arm, forcing her to let her suitcase remain where it was and pick up her feet.

Just then, an extremely loud noise came from the training area and it caught Kaiya's attention. It sounded like wood breaking, and something in general tearing.

"What was that?!"

Not wanting to look for answers from her parents she headed toward the sound, sliding open the rice paper door. Her breath caught in her throat and her eyes widened. It couldn't be…no! He was supposed to be a pile of mere ashes, he was not supposed to be standing here in her home, lightning crackling around his extended right arm and wearing a small smirk on his face. Instantly, the memory of the boy in the picture frame in the attic came to mind and she remained standing there.

"N-no way! Can't be!" she blurted, and it seemed to have snagged Kazuya's attention because his gaze finally landed on her. Wordlessly, he switched out of his stance and stood upright, his arm falling to his side, fist remaining clenched.

"As you can see, the project was a success, Kaiya." Hideki said rather calmly.

Jin's words re-appeared in her brain and the color drained from her face. _You don't understand! Kazuya is evil!_

"Staring is rude, girl." Kazuya snorted, "You act like you haven't seen a man before."

"That's because you're supposed to be fucking _dead_! I wasn't aware that you were godly enough to withstand molten magma!" Kaiya blurted, finding her voice again before she turned around to look at her father. "Do you have _any_ idea of what you did?!"

"Kaiya—" Hideki began.

"No! No you don't get it!" Kaiya shook her head. "I'm outta here."

"Kaiya, you just got back, please don't leave again!" Mayumi sighed, standing in front of her daughter. Kaiya grit her teeth, avoiding eye contact with her mother. She had to find Jin and tell him that Kazuya was alive, that Heihachi wasn't the only problem anymore.

"The tournament starts tomorrow, you'll find whoever you're looking for then!" Mayumi insisted.

"I hope so." Kaiya hissed, leaving the area. That didn't mean she couldn't feel Kazuya's gaze on her back the entire time, and it was so unsettling it was enough to make her shut herself away in her room for the remainder of the night.

Sleep hadn't been so easy.

~*~

With the tournament beginning in the morning, Jin spent the better half of the day meditating, keeping his mind clear of distraction. While his current location wasn't the calm forest of Yakushima, it was still relaxing all the same. The passing breeze had been gentle, but as night fell, the winds had become rather ominous and anything but smooth. With his brown eyes trained toward the night sky, thoughts of Kaiya and one of their last conversations flooded his mind.

///

"_You talk too much." Jin told Kaiya, watching her lie back with an arm behind her head, with her other arm extended outward, her index finger pointing at various stars in the sky as she hummed softly for a couple moments._

"_You don't talk enough and that's really fuckin' lame. Stop with all the brooding." she observed, and silence loomed above them again. Jin watched Kaiya connect some stars together before his eyes fell on the fountain that was nearby._

"…_What's Hanamaki like?" he asked finally._

"_It's…it's really quiet, but gorgeous. Everybody knows everybody and they look out for each other. It's away from the majority of the city-it's more like a little town. There are festivals and shops and what not…but Hanamaki is like that jewel that's nestled away somewhere safe." she replied._

"_It sounds nice."_

"_I actually have fun star-gazing every now and then. Yeah I could live without the long commutes to the city by train, but what're you gonna do?"_

_Jin watched her close her eyes and exhale, a smile coming to rest across her lips._

"_Why'd you ask?" she wondered._

"_You told me I don't talk enough and that I brood."_

"_Both very, very true!" she chirped, "You know you should visit. Maybe after the tournament's over, you can stop by for a couple days."_

_Jin was a little relieved that she couldn't see the frown on his face. After the tournament, he was sure that he wasn't going to be around to see Hanamaki. Part of him considered asking if she had any pictures of the town that he could look at. Her words were oddly enough reinforcement of his objective at hand: getting rid of his grandfather and the Mishima Zaibatsu, but more importantly getting rid of himself, if only to get rid of the blood that flowed throughout him._

'_**Foolish human. Do you think I'll let you go? Do you dream of seeing a place where you know you don't belong? A place that I could destroy just like that?'**_

_His head had begun to hurt. Jin was certain this wasn't 'doubt' nagging at him this time, but something different. Something completely and totally evil, and what had been most unnerving was the fact that the voice that echoed in his head sounded like his own. He was not evil. He was a good person. He was not, under any circumstances, evil._

"_Hey. You're doing it again." Kaiya's voice mused, "That brooding thing. Spontaneity will never be your thing, hm?" _

_Jin glanced at her again, and watched her sit up. "…No." he answered finally, watching her turn to face him. She stared deep into his eyes, her lips fixed into a very small pout, her eyebrows knit together before she opened her mouth to speak._

"_You gotta lighten up a little." she said, and she chuckled, poking him in the cheek with one of her fingers before she stood up, stretched and headed back inside. He watched her until she was out of sight, unaware that he was smiling a little until the voice in his head was willing to point it out to him without hesitation._

'_**You're…doing that stupid thing with your mouth. Smiling. And not because you're dealing out pain. She will never understand, and in due time she will push you away.'**_

_Jin couldn't believe that, not when he remembered his conversation with Hashimoto. He said she would keep pushing no matter how hard he tried to keep her at a distance. He turned his gaze back toward the sky and sighed. Maybe just for a little while, he'd entertain the thought of letting somebody in._

///

"…Lighten up." he mused aloud. When he considered what he intended to do in the morning, Kaiya's words to him became that much more distant. Perhaps that was good, if he didn't have to think about her so much, then he could continue as planned.

He was angry with himself for dreaming about her when he slept.

~*~

It was dawn when Kazuya woke, got dressed and set out for Tokyo. He could see the barest hints of sunlight poking through the window of his guest bedroom and the house had been completely silent. His mind had already sorted out his priorities: Destroy his father, kill his son and take back the power that belonged to him. The world would be in the palm of his hands again, just like it had been before Heihachi handed him his defeat in the form of death by molten lava.

Just then he heard the sound of footsteps coming down the hall. They weren't heavy like Hideki's or quick-paced like Mayumi's so they had to have belonged to their daughter. He remember the look of utter shock on her face, and the way her fists clenched so tightly her knuckles had gone white. It was obvious that she had doubted her father's mental prowess, just as Hideki had doubted his daughter's obedience. This small family of three people had already become worlds apart. The thought alone made him smirk in satisfaction.

He stood up, floorboards creaking underneath his weight before he walked to the door and slid it open in one fluid motion. Sure enough, Kaiya had been at the end of the hallway inspecting her own dark leather gloves, a deep frown on her face. She had been in contact with Jin, therefore she was of some use to him. Yes, she would be the one to lead him to the other part of him whether she liked it or not.

"Where is he?" he asked.

"Hell if I know." Kaiya spat, having not bothered to turn and look at him as she kneeled to lace up her boots. "Even if I did, I wouldn't be opening my mouth to you."

"I would only have to resort to beating the answer out of you then."

She opened the front door and dim light flooded the living area, "Why are you so hellbent on knowing?"

Kazuya watched her leave, smirking the entire time. "He has something I want. Something that has always been _mine_."

"Is hatred implanted into your family's DNA or something? Jin hates you, he hates Heihachi, and then there's you?"

"Stupid girl. You would never understand."

"That seems to be the hit line with you guys too. Jin was like a broken record. I'd never understand. It was better I didn't. Fuck you guys, you don't know what's best for me, _I'm_ the only one who knows that."

"Your persistence is going to get you killed, girl." Kazuya warned.

"Why the hell would you even care about what happens to me?"

"I don't, but your parents do." Kazuya reminded her before walking out of the house.

~*~

There had been a myriad of fireworks, countless bursts of cheering and a clear blue sky that morning. Competitors from around the world had gathered here to participate in the tournament for a chance to win everything, and the inevitable blow of defeat to those who couldn't go far enough. In the throng of people, Jin made sure to tuck himself away, the hood of his jacket over his head obscuring his face from view. He could see everything from behind that hood.

There were a few familiar faces—Paul Phoenix, the fighter who the media believed won the third tournament. There was also Julia Chang, the teenaged girl he remembered meeting once or twice before. Time had been good to her obviously, but even from a distance he could read the worry in her eyes. Nina Williams, the woman who once tried to kill him made her appearance as well, and off in the corner he could see Marshall Law looking over a piece of paper.

There had also been some new people he hadn't seen before either. To Jin's left stood a blond-haired, blue-eyed man clad in maroon-colored pants and a light blue shirt donned with red rose petals. Something resonated within Jin for a split second the moment his eyes caught sight of the nasty-looking scar trailing down his left arm. This man may have seemed human—he was in all aspects—but something was…off. Not too far away from Marshall Law stood a bald man who had to have been well over six feet tall, skin tanned and permanent snarl etched onto his face. And just a little ways away from that man had been a tan skinned woman, brown hair pulled into a high ponytail. Judging from her short black shorts and the extremely toned legs, she was still a minor force to be reckoned with.

None of them mattered however. They were only pieces in the way of him finishing this.

"Where the fuck is he…"

It was that voice that snagged Jin's attention, forcing him to turn to the left completely. Watching people go left and right, spouting obscenities as they did so, Jin watched Kaiya appear finally.

"Well if you'd _move_, then maybe you could've saved your damned food!" he heard her hiss at one of the spectators who glowered at her.

It dawned on Jin that they hadn't seen each other since he left her behind, and part of him said it would be wise to pick up his feet and move his ass, lest he face her wrath. But if she signed up for this tournament, then her wrath was inevitable. Without thinking, he turned so that he was facing her.

"…I'm sorry." he said.

The words caught Kaiya's attention despite the raucous cheering that had been all around them, and when her hazel eyes fell on him, something akin to relief appeared on her face and her arms dropped to her sides. Her lips were curled into a small frown and for a while she said nothing. Jin had started to think that her silence was the best thing he could have hoped for in terms of a response. That thought promptly died when she bared her teeth and punched him in the arm.

"You dick! You left without me!"

"I already told you—"

"If you came back with me, then you would've seen Kazuya for yourself!"

"…_What_?!"

"He's _alive_, Jin. He's alive and he was **in my house**."

"Are you alright?!" Jin blurted.

"What? Why wouldn't I be?…Anyway, my dad actually turned out successful. He's alive. Alive and kicking."

'**How perfect. How absolutely perfect!' **that voice chuckled in his head.

Perfect? It had been, in an ironic twist of fate.

~*~

**End Notes: **Augh! This…this was a toughie considering my procrastination! I do that something fierce! Anyway, That's it for this installment, stay tuned for the sixth one where stuff heats up. If there's mass skipping, don't question it. I have a ton of stuff to cover XD Expect an appearance by some moar characters! It'll be obvious I swear. No, really.


	6. Derailed

**Author's Notes:** So I wrote more! Yippee! Things finally pick up here, and I'm alluding to some things that need to be paid attention to, because they're important? Also we have some surprises in this chapter. They're obvious surprises, but surprises none the less! Ennnjoy! Bold = Devil, though that's about obvious now, right?

**Disclaimer:** It's the usual. I don't own Tekken or its characters. I only own the people that don't belong in the series. I think those people are obvious, no?

* * *

_Blind Justice_

_Part Six: Derailed_

The tournament had started off smoothly, Craig Marduk and Steve Fox opening things up with the brawl at an airport. Clearly Heihachi didn't care where the fight took place, he only looked for the winners. Steve had overpowered the man who was obviously two sizes bigger than he was, and made quick work of leaving. He was a man on the move. Craig however didn't seem too upset, he had to have had a different objective. Jin wouldn't waste time by asking. He got by this particular round due to interference.

It had been a blast from the past really, with very unenthusiastic emphasis on 'blast'. Jin had met the man who graced himself with the title of 'Rival' with his intense, obviously-dyed red hair and almost perfect, yet still deadly footwork. Yes, Hwoarang was excellent at Tae Kwon Do, but it seemed that the Korean military had different plans, their fight interrupted and Hwoarang dragged off to prison with the charge of desertion. His fight postponed, the voice in the back of his mind dissatisfied, and all around disgruntled, Jin sought to keep himself from brooding. That in itself proved difficult considering what Kaiya told him.

Kazuya was alive.

**'We'll destroy him and take what is ours. We'll destroy everything and everyone shortly afterward. Everyone will cower in fear of our power...we will show them the meaning of fear.'**

That's not what Jin wanted. He just wanted to make sure that no one had to deal with his family ever again. Shaking his head, he continued down the streets, quietly easing past people. The crowd had gotten bigger, their cheering apparent. He picked up the sounds of battle cries which had gotten louder the closer he went. When he made it to the front, he caught sight of Kaiya going against the woman he saw earlier. Kaiya's stance had finally been perfected, but fatigue was written all over her face. Black and blue marks were starting to become visible on her forearms, and her normally pulled back hair was frayed and spread out. Her skin was damp from perspiration, and her eyes were narrowed.

When Jin glanced over to the other woman, she seemed to be just as bruised and tired as Kaiya. He recognized her to be Christie Monteiro. To anyone else, Christie might have been dancing in place, but the reality was that she was a practitioner of Capoeira, a martial art that required heavy legwork. Christie was the first to move forward with a war cry falling from her lips. As Jin expected, Kaiya evaded, his eyes watching her step backward and then to the side so that the other woman's foot hit air. As fast as Christie evaded, Kaiya prepared a counter attack, a hard punch to the girl's side. Christie crippled briefly, her body bending. Before her face could make any sort of contact with Kaiya's fist, she wisely moved and distanced herself.

Kaiya took the offensive, dashing forward and grabbing Christie, throwing her over her shoulder. The woman landed on her feet, but Kaiya quickly nailed her in the spine, sending her to the floor. Christie immediately recovered, her legs sweeping outward, spinning. Kaiya lost her footing and hit the pavement, her palms scraping against the concrete along with her face. Jin watched her pained expression fade fast, her body going back into motion. Now it was Christie who took the offensive position, countless kicks coming in Kaiya's direction, a few of them managing to hit the other girl, while some were being evaded.

**'Your...friend may be the reckless fire, but now she's waiting for something.'**

The window of opportunity opened and with a grunt, Kaiya grabbed Christie's leg and pulled, hyper-extending it. Christie let out a wail of pain as Kaiya let it go followed it up with a hard sweep of her leg, the ball of her boot smacking Christie's kneecap. The crowd might have seen the move and let out loud 'Ohs' in response, but Jin could hear the sound of bone cracking and reflexively his fist tightened.

**'You heard it too? The sound of that poor woman's kneecap cracking? It's beautiful, isn't it?'**

Jin watched Kaiya step back, a deep frown on her face as Christie lie on the floor, her breaths short and unsteady, her eyes wide. Panic and shock set in for her, and it wasn't long until an official declared the match as over, with Kaiya as the victor.

"...I heard that once you take out the crucial piece of something, the rest of it all falls apart..." Kaiya said. Cautiously, she stepped toward Christie in attempts to help her up as paramedics came in. Naturally, Christie smacked Kaiya's hand away in blind pain and the other woman could only bite her lip and exhale. Jin watched her hands slide into her hair in vain attempts to fix it. The skin on her face had been broken, one patch of it red from when she met the concrete and it was beginning to bleed. Her fingertips were as scraped as her long pants were, and the bruises were becoming more and more apparent.

"Congratulations." Jin remarked once the crowd died down. Kaiya blinked and she turned to face him slowly, wincing a little.

"Thanks...I...think I overdid it.." she started to say.

"No. You didn't overdo it. That's just the way this tournament works. There isn't any mercy, you can't afford to show any. Anything goes, the only rule that is followed is punctuality." Jin commented.

"So, how was your fight? You look pretty much unscathed."

"I won due to an interruption by the military. My opponent was charged with desertion." Jin responded, his eyes falling on the way Kaiya's hand cradled her side.

**'How unsatisfying. They couldn't even let us finish the fight.'** the voice in his head echoed, making his displeasure known. **'We should have killed them for interfering...'**

"I'm sure he'll be back again. Don't sweat it, Tiger." Kaiya said, patting Jin's shoulder. "Do you know who your next opponent is?"

"Nina Williams."

"Ah...I don't have the slightest goddamned clue as to who that is." Kaiya grinned. Jin shook his head, smirking a little before walking slowly, gesturing for Kaiya to follow. Once they were moving, Kaiya seemed to ignore the majority of her aches and that smile was back on her face.

"Think I'll do better against the boxer? I mean yeah, I heard he creamed that huge bald guy. Bet it was like David and Goliath." she remarked.

**'He'd slaughter her. He's not as human as you'd think. Although...the sight of her broken body would be something lovely to see, wouldn't it? Pained expression on her face, her hands clutching desperately at shattered ribs as she tries to breathe...Perhaps she'd even cry! Oh, how--'**

Jin let out a grunt of frustration, his hand going to his head. Now that voice in the back of his head was a sadist. One more reason to exterminate his family. Maybe that voice would, to put it in blunt terms, shut the fuck up so he could think straight.

"Hey! Hey...you okay?" Kaiya's concerned voice snagged his attention, and he felt her hand on his arm. He nodded once.

**'Liar.'**

"Fine. I should be asking about your injuries."

"Nothin' I can't handle." Kaiya beamed, "You should see the other girl—oh, _wait_."

**'I knew she was proud of the damage she caused. I could grow to like this human girl.'**

"Get your ass moving, Jin. You've got a match, I've got some bruises to _not_ lament over. Break some bones for me, alright?"she continued, patting him on the shoulder.

**'She has the right idea in mind. After Nina Williams is the one we want. Kazuya. Nina is not to advance. Crush her. No, slaughter her.'**

They parted ways, with Jin being the last to move, his eyes following Kaiya until she was out of sight.

~*~

Kaiya pushed open the towering glass doors and stepped out onto the rooftop of the towering skyscraper. She had to admit that this impressive view was a nice change from the boring elevator trip up alone. A gust of cold wind was felt and she she grit her teeth.

_'Yeah Kaiya, wear no sleeves and don't bring a jacket.'_ she thought to herself.

"You! Are you Kaiya Sato?" a voice asked. The voice belonged to the official of the match, and he seemed to tower above both her and her opponent, muscular in build. He was no Craig Marduk, but he was intimidating.

Steve Fox, her opponent for this round, bandaged his hands and then cracked his knuckles, his icy blue eyes not on her but on an imaginary opponent. Poking from under the short sleeves of his light blue rose-printed shirt Kaiya could see a scar snaking its way down his left arm and branching out just a little.

"Yeah. That's me." she answered, blinking when Steve stopped punching at the air. His eyes fell on her and she gave a small wave.

"Fighters, get ready to begin!" the official called, and on cue she and Steve snapped into their stances, forgoing any kind of formalities that should have come before.

"FIGHT!"

~*~

**'You nearly got yourself killed, thinking about that girl.'** the voice in Jin's head snorted. Jin stood over Nina's unconscious and heavily bruised form, his chest rising and falling rapidly as he raised one hand to wipe the blood from the corner of his mouth. **'Kaiya still thinks you're not a monster, and look at what you did at the mere thought of being unable to fight against Kazuya. You nearly killed this woman. Also, I do believe I specifically said slaughter.'**

Not wanting to inspect the damage he had done to Nina any longer, he quickly left the empty parking lot and tried to shut out the voice of the official requesting paramedics. He felt sick, and that semi-perverse laughter in his head didn't make things better. Not even the evening air was enough to clear his mind. At this rate, nothing would be enough to clear his mind. Just for a split moment he wanted silence. Absolute silence.

**'Speaking of your pseudo-girlfriend, let's hope the boxer hasn't beaten her too badly.'**

Jin slung his bag over his shoulders, brown eyes falling on the building in the center of the city. "Don't doubt her."

**'You and I know very well she's no match for him. Shall we go retrieve her?'**

_'She's not some object you can be fascinated with.'_

**'I'm 'fascinated' with her because a part of you is smitten with her. I don't see why, she too is another obstacle in our way. You seem to be forgetting that I'm still very much a part of you. You try _so_ hard to keep me contained, so hard to ignore me...but one day it's all going to backfire on you. You're going to lose control...and then I'll take hold of you.'**

_'I won't ever let that happen again! You won't harm another person!'_

**'Idle threats. _Something_ is going to set you off, and you'll be too weak to hold me back.'**

Nothing more spoken between the two that shared a body, they were on the move again.

~*~

Kazuya had been rather patient, waiting for Jin to arrive at the laboratory. He had long since gotten rid of his opponent, who had disappeared in a haze of smoke after a tedious fight that included Kazuya having to dodge a sword and spinning kicks. Only briefly did his mind rest on the Sato family, one having a connection to his son, the other responsible for bringing him back to the living world. It wouldn't take long to see that they'd clash again. Their fatal mistake was coming into contact with him, with Jin. Everything that the Mishima family came into contact with would eventually perish.

Hideki's drive to see a man who died would come back to haunt him. Kaiya's naivety in regards to the power that Jin possessed would ultimately kill her, and their actions would drive the frail and fragile Mayumi insane. Kazuya couldn't help but chuckle, hearing it reverberate off the walls of the laboratory.

At least there had been something that would keep him amused for a while longer.

~*~

"Heihachi-sama," one armor-clad officer spoke, "We have located Jin. He's on his way to the Zaibatsu headquarters in the city."

Heihachi sat up in his chair, feigning interest. "Who's his next opponent?"

"...Kazuya." the officer replied after a couple seconds of hesitation, "he's in the laboratory, though. Just defeated Yoshimitsu a couple of minutes ago."

"Why is he going to the skyscraper?!"

"There's a current fight taking place there. Steve Fox is fighting against Kaiya Sato."

"The prototype against the spawn of a G Corporation employee..." Heihachi trailed off. Without warning, his fist banged against the arm of his chair, alerting the soldiers and he stood up quickly.

"Bring the girl and Jin to Hon-Maru at all costs. Make sure they're alive."

"What about Mister Fox?"

"I have no use for him, but if he poses a problem, take necessary action." Heihachi finished, leaving the room after hearing a unified "Yes sir!" from the others.

Everything would fall into place.

~*~

As Kaiya slid back against the pavement, trying to catch her breath, Steve stopped just a few feet away from her. One of the towering statues that had been at the skyscraper had long since shattered, its pieces making for small but costly obstacles that could tip the fight in either his or her favor. Kaiya could feel it as another cold breeze passed by; her body was in a high amount of pain. There had only been a few hard body shots she had taken and each one felt like Steve had been knocking the wind out of her. Her ribs screamed for her to end the fight and give up, but her pride wasn't having it. Steve prepared to deliver the final blow, when he was intercepted by a single hard fist to his jaw.

"What?!" Kaiya blurted, standing up immediately.

"Kaiya Sato is disqualified! Steve Fox advances!" the official announced.

"I didn't even hit him!" Kaiya protested while Steve stood up, obviously angry at the fact that the fight was ended in such a way. Before he could voice his own protests the sight of a small group of soldiers made him reconsider. All of them were clad in red and black armor, yellow eyes from the helmets glowing eerily. Their weapons were drawn and pointed at Kaiya and the lead soldier stepped in between two soldiers who made space for him. Without a word, he held out his hand toward Kaiya, who stepped back, shaking her head. These weren't G corporation soldiers—the company logo was always visible when Kaiya saw it—these had to be the infamous Tekken Force soldiers that she had seen in passing at the opening ceremony of the tournament, acting as security.

"Alright, what the hell do you need me for?" she began, only to be surprised by Steve throwing one of the soldiers into the leader, who merely stepped to the left and watched his comrade hit the floor. Kaiya watched his fist clench for two seconds and then he retaliated, his own right knee impaling Steve in the gut, followed by his right hand snatching up the boxer by his neck.

"STOP!" Kaiya yelled, charging forward into a running sidekick, breaking the two men up. Steve landed on his ass, trying to catch his breath while the soldier advanced toward Kaiya. She moved with a hard left roundhouse, noting it was easily blocked and it was slower than any attack she had thrown before. Shit, she was already tired. Hopping back, she watched Steve get to his feet slowly.

"She stays alive." another soldier reminded the group while the lead soldier slid his finger across his throat, gesturing toward Steve that he had no chance.

"What did you do to piss off Mishima?!" Steve asked Kaiya.

"Your guess is as good as mine!" Kaiya responded quickly as the soldiers rushed in toward them.

The sound of glass shattering alerted all of them, and Kaiya watched as two motionless bodies came rolling over before they stopped. When she looked up, she found Jin standing there, his teeth bared and his fists clenched. Blood trickled down the corners of his mouth and his chest heaved up and down, breathing short.

**She's still in one piece. Let me out. Let me slaughter them all! **The voice boomed in the back of his mind.

_'No. This is my fight!' _Jin protested as two or three soldiers turned toward him.

**Fool! You won't win this fight by yourself! Give in to your anger!**

"Heihachi wants them alive, stop at _nothing_!" the leader bellowed.

The soldiers descended, and violence erupted. Soldier after soldier rushed in only to wind up with a broken limb or two, unconscious, or even dead. For every soldier that was defeated, two more took his place. Steve had been the first to go, the numbers game catching up to him despite his speed and power. Jin watched him hit the floor bloody and bruised. His eyes only briefly darted to Kaiya who had been holding her own for less than five seconds. He watched her body connect with the base of one of the statues, and he could hear her let out a scream of pain, which still hadn't been loud enough to drown out the sound of that voice chuckling at her agony. Jin never wanted her to get hurt, and she wouldn't have if she had just stayed back. He was sure she was the trap set for him, why else would Tekken Force soldiers go after her? His family had to pay, the soldier who just rammed his boot into her stomach had to pay. Jin would tear them all to pieces.

His pulse pounded in his ears, his heart beating a little faster as he began to see red. His head had begun to hurt more and more and his breathing turned into gasping.

**Don't hold me back! Give into your anger! Slaughter them all! Their screams are the only satisfying thing! Show them fear! Show them what happens when they cross you! Show them or they'll kill her first! **The voice taunted.

"...I'll keep fighting if you will..."

That voice belonged to Kaiya, and it cut through the sound of the voice in Jin's head gradually. It played like some sort of broken record, one that increased in volume until he was able to see straight again and watch her pull herself to her feet and wipe the blood from her face.

It was the last thing he saw before things went dark.

~*~

Ten minutes turned into fifteen, and Kazuya's patience had been wearing thin. The ringing of his phone only made him angry, and before he could crush the device, he noticed Hideki's name appearing on the screen.

"This better be good." he growled into the phone.

"G—on—to the tournament—your back—every—set—don't—ad—Kazuya!" Hideki's broken voice blurted into the phone before things went dead. Kazuya stared at the screen before he let out a grunt of annoyance. Two things ocurred: Hideki probably got himself killed, and Jin did not show his face to their match. This was most unsettling for Kazuya.

_'The winner of Round 7 of the King of Iron Fist Tournament is Kazuya Mishima on the grounds of his opponent not appearing. Please advance to the Arena for the final match.'_

"Heihachi..." Kazuya growled, "This has to be your doing."

~*~

"I don't know what the hell you want from Jin...but..." Kaiya began, "you're _not_ taking my friend away from me without a fight. Let's go." she wasn't going to have him play the disappearing act again and she wasn't going to leave him behind. Whatever he had planned, she'd help him.

Several officers pressed forward as a helicopter appeared and drew closer to the rooftop. The leader of the group of armed men raised his hand once. Their actions stopped and they saluted him once before filing to the back until it was only him standing across from her. Only once did she look behind her to see Jin lying on his back, unconscious.

"You're going to collapse at any moment. Stop fighting." the leader spoke.

"No!" Kaiya spat.

"...You can't take any more damage. You're of no use if you're dead."

"Well, isn't that a bitch?" Kaiya snorted, remaining in her stance. "I'll give you points for at least deciding that you didn't need your buddies any more."

"I would have preferred not to use them from the beginning. _Superior's_ orders however." was the calm response, "This won't take long."

"Says you." Kaiya retorted, rushing forward.

"Retrieve Kazama!" the leader shouted to one soldier, running toward Kaiya.

She skidded to a stop, changing her target to the officer who had been moving toward Jin's body. However, their leader had been faster and he intercepted the punch intended for his own comrade and sent Kaiya against the concrete, knocking her out. Not finished, he picked her up by the neck and squeezed.

"**Don't**. Remember, she stays alive." the officer said to the leader, using his free hand to grab the other man's wrist. The leader reluctantly let go of her, and used his other arm to catch her. He signaled for the helicopter to land and put both Kaiya and Jin's bodies on board. He gave one last look at the area, noting how it was littered with bodies left and right. He pressed the earpiece on his helmet and spoke.

"Objective complete. Delta Unit is returning with the targets. Tell Heihachi that he can proceed as planned."

~*~

The roaring of the crowd outside the caged arena did absolutely nothing for Kazuya. Standing across from his father, memories of the older man's actions flooded through his mind from start to finish. Heihachi was responsible for everything: throwing him into a ravine and putting him near death, and then outright killing him. He was even responsible for Kazuya himself selling his soul in exchange for power. More importantly, Heihachi was responsible for Jin, the actual other half of his powers, not making his appearance and thus postponing their fight.

"What did you do with Jin Kazama?" he questioned, dropping into his stance. Heihachi merely smirked, his arms crossed over his chest.

"I'll tell you after the fight."

* * *

**Author's Notes:** FINALLY! This chapter is done! I do hope you've read carefully and have figured out my surprises in this chapter! I also hope you can figure out Hideki's message to Kazuya! If you can't, that will come to light in the next installment. Next up, Mishima fight, and we can all say howdy to Devil Jin! My apologies to Steve fans, He totally should've lasted longer, but alas he needed to be out of the equation.


	7. Red Fraction

**Author's Notes:** Okay! So, after a brief miniature pep-talk, some much needed breaking to write the other ideas that have been in my head, I have found the way back to this. I haven't forgotten about it, I just needed to step back and then put myself back on track. Updates are usually sporadic, and for that I send my apologies! If you've been keeping up, Kazuya got a cryptic message and Kaiya and Jin got kidnapped (?) By the Tekken Force. There's only one place the story starts from now.

**Disclaimer: **Okay, dude if I owned Tekken, it would be madness. Pure madness. All I own are my original characters and people/places that look like they don't belong. Tekken belongs to Namco Bandai and no copyright infringement is intended. Suing Sous = gets you nothing, lawyers.

* * *

_Blind Justice_

_Part Seven: Red Fraction_

To say everything was just a mere haze was an understatement. Kaiya felt like she had been hit by a truck. Her muscles ached as did her ribs, which hadn't had any more time to heal since returning from Australia. When her vision came back into the focus, she could see bruises and open cuts littered along her arms, and her legs stung. Hissing in pain, she pulled herself to her feet and then her knees gave way, forcing her to lie against the nearby wall.

"Dammit..." she swore through clenched teeth before continuing to breathe through her nose. Taking a quick look around, she noticed the washed walls and the smooth wooden floors. Fire lit the way further down, and the occasional crackling sound from the flames was the only thing she could hear in tandem with the sounds of crickets. She knew she wasn't in the city anymore, and when she tried to think back on how she might have gotten here, all she could remember was the fleet of Tekken Force soldiers and Jin falling unconscious.

"Jin..." she mumbled, immediately standing upright. Her body had begun to protest even more, and suddenly lying back down seemed much better. But Jin was here, right? He had to be.

The eerie quiet had been unnerving and not peaceful as Kaiya proceeded to walk along the wall until she reached a doorway. Poking her head out, she saw that the coast was clear and she proceeded to move, stopping to try and encourage her body to keep going. It couldn't give out on her again, not now.

The sounds of footsteps reached her ears now. They were slow, but heavy. Someone else who shouldn't have been here was. Gearing herself up for a fight she obviously wasn't ready for, she stood away from the wall and slowly slipped into an otherwise imperfect stance, and suddenly a small part of her wished her father was here to tell her that she needed more practice, that this stance was terrible. No, he probably wouldn't even give her free pass for her injuries. Narrowing her eyes, she exhaled and stood, ready to attack. The door at the end slid open and out stepped a familiar figure.

"Otousan?" she blurted, and then her body crumpled again.

Hideki rushed to her side, and helped her up, "Kaiya, what are you doing here?"

"I...I should be asking the same thing. Was fighting with Jin...Tekken Force kinda won." she sighed. "Now we're separated...and I can't let those guys beat Jin."

"You're in no condition to fight. I'm getting you out of here."

"Dad-"

"Listen! I don't have time for this! G Corporation is on its way here to Hon Maru! They're making plans to destroy both Heihachi and Kazuya!" Hideki explained.

"But...isn't Kazuya with you guys?" Kaiya asked.

"He is, and I don't know who ordered this...but I need to get Kazuya out of here."

"Kazuya's a grown ass revived man! He can take care of himself!" Kaiya insisted as they walked down the hallway near the room where Kaiya had been placed. When they reached the end, a ramp escalating was in sight, and at the top stood five soldiers.

"Huh! So _there's_ our intruder!" the lead soldier, a female commented. "You're not making it past this point!"

"I beg to differ!" Kaiya hissed, only to be silenced by a look from Hideki. He was a picture of calm, his eyes focused on the group at the top as he gestured for Kaiya to remain where she was. Without a word, he switched into his stance and then stood still. These five were just a small fraction of the Tekken Force, that much he knew, but they still were apart of the group that decided it was best to harm his flesh and blood and for that, they would pay.

"Allow _me_ to the one to prove you wrong." he said, and watched as they all rushed at once. The first one to extend their arm in a hard punch had been countered, Hideki moving his body in one fell swoop, pulling a soldier forward with one of his hands and following it up with a punch to the back of the helmet, using enough force to shatter the material and incapacitate him. The body fell to the floor with an audible thud, and without pause Hideki continued moving, pitting his enemies' force back against them with speed and little effort. One by one, they fell against the floor, groaning in pain as they held a limb that had been dislocated or broken.

"Enough!" a voice from the top of the ramp sounded. Now standing there was the same soldier from before, the bright white symbol etched into one of his shoulder guards.

"It's _you_." Kaiya cut in, slowly staggering forward, "You're that guy. The leader of the unit that attacked us. Where's Jin?"

"He's where Heihachi wanted us to put him." was the simple answer.

Kaiya growled, clenching her fist and moving even though her body screamed at her to remain stationary or at least get it some kind of painkillers, for it longed to be numb. She watched as the leader tensed just a moment as if he was hesitant to try anything, but that lasted for just a second and he dashed forward at a speed neither she nor her father could predict and before she could react, she watched her father stumble back clutching his stomach before he dropped to his knees and lied face down, temporarily stunned.

Delayed reaction evident, Kaiya barely managed to avoid a hard punch, blocking with her forearm and trying to ignore the pain that shot through it. The recoil was enough to send her backward, and keep her on the defensive, eventually backing up against the wall with a thud and evading the fist that would have hit her right in the head. She heard the wall crack and break, plaster falling against the floor. Kaiya could hardly stand up straight, her vision getting blurred around the edges. Defeated, she fell against the wall and slid downward, looking at where her father lay.

That same soldier towered over her, fists clenched. The only difference was that he did not want to break her neck like before. When she looked up at him, there wasn't any fear despite her condition, only determination. Her injuries did not matter to her; she would keep going until she found Jin.

"Is this worth it?" he asked quietly, his gaze settling on Hideki, watching as he finally stood up trying to shake off the pain. He hadn't done any lasting damage save for a couple of hard bruises, but in Kaiya's case, she fractured her forearm, he could tell from the way her arm looked and how it was beginning to bruise.

Before he could say anything else, he heard the sound of doors opening abruptly in the distance and he knew that Heihachi had returned with Kazuya. He scooped Kaiya into his arms as another officer appeared.

"Lieutenant."

"Sergeant. Get this man off of the premises immediately."

"You're not going to kill him? That's not like you." the other officer teased a little, walking over to Hideki and picking him up.

"She's the trespasser's daughter. He doesn't need to die unless it's an order."

"Leave her with me!" Hideki sputtered, glaring.

"...This is your leader speaking," the Lieutenant ordered through his communicator, "Keep all of your priorities on Jin Kazama. If there are any other...disturbances, I will handle them myself. In the meantime, get a couple of medics over to the eastern wing. There's a mess that needs to be cleaned up."

* * *

Kazuya let Heihachi lead him down the empty hallways of Hon Maru, his ever watchful eye on his father's back. He had never trusted the man, he had no reason to. The only thing he had been capable of was hating Heihachi with every single fiber of his being. Besides destroying his father and taking what he needed from his son, Kazuya wanted the entire world back in the palm of his hand. Everyone everywhere would know what it was like to live in fear once again.

The doors to the Inner Shrine opened with a loud bang, and instantly Kazuya could see Jin hanging there by two iron chains. He knew those weren't ordinary chains. Mishima men weren't ordinary men, and it took a lot to bring them down. He continued following Heihachi, stopping just a few feet from where Jin hung, unconscious. Just being in the presence of Jin awakened the power that he knew had been lingering deep within him, a power he had been just a few moments away from completing. Everything would be his, soon enough...

"**So you were with him after all, my half...**" he spoke, in a voice still unlike his own.

"...Who are you?" Heihachi demanded, turning sharply.

"**Hmph! I am what you refer to as 'Devil'.**" Devil Kazuya explained, both of his eyes now glowing an eerie red, "**Twenty years ago, I lost a part of myself when you nearly killed me. Now, I'll retrieve what's rightfully mine from him! The time has come for my resurrection!**"

He could hear Heihachi move just slightly, in a small amount of disbelief. Clearly, this wasn't what he had intended on happening.

"You saved me the trouble of having to search for him. For your troubles, I'll give you a taste of my power!"

With a flash of his eyes he sent Heihachi flying out of the room with enough force to render him immobile for just a few moments.

Smirking, he looked over at the fallen man. "**What's the matter? Didn't your precious science give you all the answers you needed about my power?**"

With Heihachi out of the equation, Devil Kazuya was free to continue his plan: take the power he needed from Jin, effectively erase Kazuya completely and proceed to plunge the world into a darkness so deep it would never recover. Turning back to Jin, he raised his hand in attempts to absorb the power directly from Jin—since he was unconscious the process was so much easier—and found that he was only partially successful. Black markings only covered Jin's arms and chest and that was it. There was nothing more.

"**Why won't you change? Is it because of that Kazama blood?**"

_'You shouldn't be worrying about that. You should be worrying about me!' _a voice echoed in the back of his mind before coming forward to the surface. It was Kazuya, the actual Kazuya. So, Devil may have purposely neglected telling Kazuya that in the process of becoming complete, Kazuya would be erased. Kazuya was a smart man, after all, he willingly surrendered his soul and was naturally a man who was not one to be controlled. The two fought back and forth, so much so that it brought Devil Kazuya to his knees, desperate to latch on and keep the upper hand.

Suddenly, there was a period of silence. No voice lingering the back of his mind, no other thoughts beside his own. Kazuya had, with great effort, controlled the power of the Devil that had rested within him for years. However, if he only had half of the power from before Heihachi killed him, and Jin had the other half, then he still would take what he needed from Jin and control that power as well. Kazama blood did not matter; he would force Jin into changing for him. It had been so easy to creep into Jin's mind while he was unconscious, his voice serving as the fog that would cover logical thought.

* * *

_'Give into the anger! Hate me! Curse me!'_

It had been the only things that Jin could hear, the only words that infiltrated his mind. Those words made his head ache over and over and if he as so much tried to listen to anything but Kazuya's accursed voice, that voice only grew louder. The last thing he heard that even reminded him of something sane had eventually begun to ebb away, undoing the careful threads of control he had been weaving for the past two years.

'_If you keep fighting—_' that voice was Kaiya's.

_'**Give into the anger!**'_

_'I'll keep fighting too!'_

_'**Hate me!**'_

_'C'mon Jin, if you keep fighting—'_

_'**Curse me!**'_

_'-I'll keep fighting-'_

_**'Give into the anger! Hate me! Curse me!'**_

What Jin wanted, what he craved, was to be rid of this cursed blood. He would have to keep fighting. This was all Kazuya's fault. It was Kazuya's fault that he was like this. All he had wanted was his mother, he was happiest when he was with her.

"Rise! Jin Kazama!"

Kazuya was going to die here.

Jin finally opened his eyes, immediately discovering that he was still bound and he broke free, falling to his knees.

**'You still insist on holding me back, do you?'** that voice chided in his ear. Jin tried catching his breath, in no mood to hear himself talk. He wanted to get rid of Kazuya, but not to the extent of becoming that monster.

"You! If only you were dead!" Jin growled, slowly getting to his feet, "Once I kill you, it'll all be over!"

Kazuya let loose a hearty laugh, running toward Jin, "Try it if you can, boy!"

They clashed in a flurry of punches and kicks, Jin's rage the catalyst for him deciding to show his father absolutely no mercy. They fought almost endlessly, the only thing that he could keep in mind being that all of this was Kazuya's fault.

**'Yes, this is his fault! Destroy him! Destroy him!'**

As he ducked that patented Electric Wind God Fist, Jin punished Kazuya for his error, an electrically charged fist colliding with his body, sending the elder Mishima staggering. He continued throwing fist after fist, red slowly becoming all he could see as the laughter in his head got louder, that same voice telling him to keep going. The last fist he threw collided with Kazuya's temple, sending him against the floor with enough strength to knock him unconscious.

Jin was hardly aware of Heihachi's recovery and entrance into the room.

"What a pathetic man. Worthless coward!" the old man sneered at his fallen son. Jin watched as Heihachi got into his stance, smirking. "That power will be mine. It's time to die, boy!"

* * *

Being helpless was almost like being lazy, Kaiya thought. She wanted desperately to fight back and get away from this officer who had been kind enough to at least carry her and not drag her across the floor like a doll. She could hear all of the sounds of fighting in the distance and her gut feeling left her with the urge to go and see what was happening, the feeling telling her that she wouldn't like what she saw. When a loud roar of anger reached her ears, she began to move.

"Put me down dammit! **Put me down**!"

"Lieutenant, we have a problem outside the complex. Our trespasser has found the will to fight again and we're losing more men than we should be losing." that voice belonged to his Sergeant and with a grunt of frustration, he left Kaiya pinned to the wall after grabbing a nearby broadsword from one of the statues in the hallway and sticking it through her shirt and to the wall.

"Stay." he ordered and quickly headed down the hall until he was out of sight.

With a growl, Kaiya reached for the broadsword and pulled, her muscles working overtime to just remove the heavy piece of metal. Realizing it wouldn't budge, she tore at her shirt until she ripped it, freeing herself. When she had enough strength to stand, she looked down the hallway and snorted.

"Fuck you, dude."

With that, she was off to find Jin.

* * *

'**This is it. **_**This**_** is what you've been waiting for.**' that voice crooned into Jin's ear, '**Look at him, trapped in your grasp and struggling. Just one more hit. One more good hit will finish him. I do wish you would have been much more slow and methodical about killing your grandfather.**'

'_Shut. Up._' Jin seethed, his hand raising, poised to strike Heihachi right in the front of his neck. Black wings proceeded to sprout from his back, the bones snapping and cracking as those wings started to beat back and forth slowly. Those familiar markings appeared on his chest and arms, and he could see Heihachi struggle again, the barest hints of fear appearing in his eyes.

'_**Yes, old man. You're going to die now**_.'

"Jin!"

When he looked up, that's when he spied Kaiya standing in the doorway, her mouth slightly open, hazel eyes wide.

"Wh-what...is this?"

'**No. Not even she will stop you! Do it! Give into your anger and kill him NOW!**'

Within a second, Jin's hand moved back and then forward in one quick motion. When he looked to the side just briefly, that's when he saw her.

His mother.

Jun, with the small and gentle smile on his face, appearing before him for that split instant. Would she want to see him like this? Ready to strike down and kill his own family members in a fit of rage? What would she say? What would she have done?

When her image disappeared, that's when he knew. Perhaps the voice in the back of his mind was right. Maybe he did need to be a little more precise with his approach. Heihachi and Kazuya would fall by his hands, but not now. With a very small smirk, he tossed Heihachi aside.

"Thank my mother."

Before he could turn around and leave, his sights fell on Kaiya, watching as she tried to stand up straight.

"You have some explaining to do. Now." she spat.

'**Oh yes. Her. I have a bone to pick with her.**'

'_She's not supposed to be here._'

'**...Oh great. I suppose you want to take her.**'

"I'm the lesser of two evils." Was the last thing Jin told Kaiya before easily grabbing her and leaving through the roof. When he spared Hon Maru one last glance, he could see the lights of helicopters in the distance.

'**Such a shame we can't stick around for the fun.**'

* * *

**End Notes:** Fear not, there will be more Devil Jin! He'll be around for a little bit longer! Part Eight will bring us G Corporation's invasion and attempted murders of Kazuya and Heihachi. It will also bring a two month intermission story-wise, so like I said, there will be more Devil Jin, and select characters will be making appearances too!


	8. Trigger

**Author's Notes: **Alright, some more productivity has occurred within me, and I'm sitting down to continue writing this story while some other ones are in the works. This story is setting up pieces for another one, so kudos if you've been sticking around this long!

**Disclaimer: **You know it man, I don't own Tekken. Namco Bandai does. I only own my original characters and other things that look like they don't belong.

* * *

_Blind Justice_

_Part 8: Trigger_

Her fingers were digging into his skin so hard that her knuckles were turning white. Her face was buried into his chest, and her body had still been littered in bruises. The sky flashed with lightning and thunder began to boom. It was only a matter of time before the rain would start, so Devil Jin beat his wings to pick up speed and ascend even higher. He continued his flight into the star-speckled sky, at least until he felt they were out of reach of the helicopters that were beginning to near Hon Maru.

'**She's oddly quiet. A far cry from the reaction I was expecting from her.'**

Devil Jin could hear her inhale sharply and then exhale, a pained noise escaping her and he realized he had been holding her tightly. He could only grin as he landed further into the deeper part of the forest they were in and toss her unceremoniously across the hard dirt. Kaiya swore when her body made said connection with the dirt and she dug her fingers into it, trying to stop herself from hitting any of the nearby trees as a cracking sound was heard. He watched her curl up partially before trying to relax, her body occasionally trembling here and there.

"What…" she started to say.

"You've broken some ribs." Devil Jin pointed out, chuckling just a little as he walked toward her, branches crushing under the weight of his foot, "You can hardly move, and I can sense your fear pulsing through you so quickly."

"Nngh...I…don't know who or _what_ you are…" he heard her gasp in response, and then he can feel a chill of excitement crawl down his spine. Just like that however, he can hear Jin scratching at the walls in the corner of his mind, scratching to escape and keep him from doing any more harm to Kaiya. Devil Jin looks down at her in complete disgust at first, not believing that this was the girl who tried to instill some useless seeds of hope inside of his host. Jin himself was rather ungrateful; he wouldn't be alive if it weren't for the part of him that remained in the back.

"You shouldn't worry, you won't be around for long." Devil Jin grinned, reaching a clawed hand out and squeezing the air, letting his telekinesis take hold of the girl and pick her up off the floor. Kaiya grasped at her neck, struggling to breathe as she watched red lightning surge through his arm.

'_Let her go! Don't hurt her anymore!' _Jin protested from within.

'**Silence yourself already, peon. I'm not going to kill her yet.' **Devil Jin said with a snort, unclenching his hand and letting Kaiya fall toward the floor. "I have a grievance with you, human." he sneered while she choked and tried not to throw up, "You're the one he seems to hold close to him besides that other woman, and you're much too close for comfort."

Kaiya rolled over slowly, another pained grunt leaving her mouth before she started breathing heavily. It was taking every ounce of her strength to remain conscious from what Devil Jin could see and with another grin he towered over her, laughing when she reached to hold her ribs as best she could.

"You have no idea of what I am capable of. If you think you can save Jin, you're sorely…"

He stopped himself, noting the way she looked up at him. Despite the horrendous pain she was in, an intense determination burned in those hazel eyes of hers. She was willing to fight until she was dead. He grit his teeth, displaying his sharpened ones all the while before he yanked her up again. "Look at yourself, foolish human! Standing this close to death and staring into the eyes of a demon who can tear you to shreds with one motion as if you can do something."

"…Jin." she uttered, "I want Jin, so I'll keep…I'll keep fighting…"

Cackling, Devil Jin let her go, "I like just a bit more life in my prey. Let's see if I can extinguish that fire of yours…" He held up his palm toward her, encasing her in a purple aura just for a couple of seconds and then he could hear the sounds of bone snapping back into place and watched her bruised skin heal over until it was as if she was never in a fight to begin with.

'**If I'm going to kill her, I might as well start from the beginning. I intend to make this slow and painful.'**

'_I told you, I will not let you hurt her!' _Jin growled, attempting to seize control over himself, which forced Devil Jin to turn sharply, his clawed hands reaching to grip his head. The words of a mere human stayed with Jin, that much was clear. As long as Kaiya continued fighting, even if defeat or death was staring her in the face, Jin would find the strength to keep going. For the last couple of years, Jin stumbled along, trying his hardest to control his anger, trying to keep the darkness that was apart of him at bay. The chain of events that unfolded continually put pressure onto Jin, putting him at his breaking point. And with the mere memory of this human girl and her voice in tandem with his mother's…they seemed to be those small fibers of hope that Jin clung to, fibers that Devil could not touch, no matter how much damage he had caused.

There were two options left over: continually torment Jin until he lost his hold, or go back and take the power from Kazuya.

Defeat was his, but he would make sure that Kaiya paid for what she did.

'**Hope. What a useless thing to hold onto on a quest to become God.'**

/

The whirring sounds of a helicopter nearing forced Kazuya to wake up and see his father attempting to shake off his own bout of dizziness. Beams of moonlight poured through the hole in the roof coupled with dust and wrecked wood, and stray black feathers fluttered to the ground. Next, what sounded like gunfire tore through the air in rapid succession, gaping holes being made through Hon Maru's roof. As Kazuya got to his feet, he watched as Jack units whirred to life, red eyes glowing and setting their sights on Heihachi first. The Jack units were products of G Corporation, that much Kazuya knew, and briefly his mind flickered to the mangled message that Hideki left him before he made the trip here. Maybe this was what Hideki had been trying to say. It didn't add up, however. Hideki worked for G Corporation, why inform him of the ambush. Even better, why would G Corporation put a bounty on his head?

'Well, once I take care of this obstacle, Hideki is next.' Kazuya thought.

"Who the hell are you?" he heard Heihachi demand and he snorted, reaching up to put his hand on his father's shoulder, only to have it forcefully brushed away. Kazuya only smirked in response before he watched as two Jacks advanced. In one swift motion, both he and Heihachi smacked them aside.

That seemed to do it. The robots prepared to make their own counter assault, with one Jack moving toward him, his arm extended in a giant punch. However, Kazuya was faster, impaling his fist through the side of the machine, going right through it and causing an eruption of metal and wires to hit the air and send the unit against the floor with an audible crashing sound, its body twitching before laying still. With no time to rest, he could see Heihachi's hands extend forward in a move he had known too well, and the sheer force broke apart the next Jack. As another machine tried to creep up on the old man, Heihachi countered with a hard head butt, sending it flying toward Kazuya, who easily caught it and flung it into another score of Jacks as well as the statue that had been in the room itself.

With another crash, a Jack came from above and Kazuya turned sharply again, his eyes skyward. He executed a quick Dragon Uppercut, and let Heihachi come rushing in with twin sidekicks. It was here that Kazuya noticed the units seemed to be setting their sights on just Heihachi now, machine after machine flying in every direction. For every Jack unit that had been dismantled, several more dropped down until the roof itself was non existent. His father was getting tired. If Kazuya took into account the fight they had with an enraged Jin, this was to be expected. However, there was no more need for Kazuya to stick around, so…

With a quick grab, he shoved Heihachi into the crowd of Jacks, watching as they dog piled on him, with one of the wretched things performing an elbow drop. With a smirk at his father, he quickly leapt from the complex through a hole in the wall, hearing his father shout "Damn you Kazuya!" as loud as he could.

What Kazuya didn't prepare for, was the explosion that occurred just four seconds later. The sheer heat and force from it was enough to make him rely on his Devil form to escape the flames, recoil helping to push him forward just a bit. He flapped his wings even harder, so the massive fire wouldn't consume him.

"Damn, are they after me too?" he swore, sparing the now ruined Hon Maru one last glance before taking off into the evening sky, one Sato Hideki in his sights.

/

"Jin! Jin! Open your eyes!"

Everything wouldn't stop moving, it kept spinning. His head still throbbed, but he was sure that he could hear that voice where it always used to be, in the back of his mind. It was angry, spewing obscenities he had never even heard of. Next, there was that familiar voice telling him to open his eyes.

"Mm.."

Slowly, he opened his eyes and took in the rather blurry vision that was a worried Kaiya. When his sights cleared up, he stared into her eyes while she exhaled in relief. Before he could say anything else to her, pain shot through his back and then through his arms, and the arm that held his mark ached strongly as it had the night he had first been branded with it. He sat up sharply, overtaken by nausea next. He could smell and taste blood, and when he looked down it stained his hands and he could feel it trickling down his back as he tried getting to his feet.

"Don't move!" Kaiya commanded.

"Did I—" he began to ask before his knees gave way. The sound of thunder tore through the sky and lightning flashed yet again and then the rain proceeded to fall, starting off gently and then picking up intensity. Kaiya reached for him, locking her arms around his waist and then his weight forced her against a nearby tree.

"No." she answered, "It was sort of the opposite. We need to get the hell out of here. And when you're well enough, you can tell me just what the fuck that was back there."

/

When Jin came to, he was greeted by the bright whiteness of a room. All he could remember were the sights of Heihachi, and then this painful flash before he saw Kaiya's face. When he sat up, pain crawled up his spine and he failed at stifling a noise.

"There are scars on your back." Kaiya said, voice unusually soft. When he turned to look at her, she had been leaning against the wall with her fingers in her hair. He noticed that there were still scratches all over her body and the bruises were gone, but her clothes were still tattered and dirty. "I guess it's from where you sprouted wings. So you wanna tell me what the hell just happened last night?"

"Where are we?" Jin responded, looking away from her.

"Old woman's house in the forest. I doubted my abilities to carry you to actual civilization. I begged her to let us in, so we owe her some manual labor for at least a couple of days. Considering the way you bled all over her floor, we really do owe her."

'**I suppose the scarring is a suitable punishment for you. I wasted some minor energy healing her wounds with the intention of causing them all over again…but you decided to play hero and actually fight back. Let me warn you now, you were blessed only temporarily. Something stronger, something deadly is coming, and you will not be able to stop me.' **Devil commented, chuckling darkly.

"I'm sorry." Jin uttered suddenly, looking back at Kaiya.

"What? Oh. Okay, first, let's rewind. What happened back there. You know, the part where you sprouted wings, tribal markings and a psychotic look that puts the guys in the nuthouse to shame."

"…It's a curse." Jin replied immediately. "It's my blood."

"So your blood is the catalyst for you getting some demon-like features." Kaiya replied, giving him a look of disbelief, "Pardon me for the three seconds of time where I believe that's a bunch of bullshit."

Jin watched her stand up and walk back and forth, and he could hear the floorboards creaking under her weight. She put her hands on her hips and turned to face him. "Now that those three seconds are up, you need to go a little more in depth. I'm a big girl Jin, I can handle it so don't sugar coat it."

"My family…my family is destined to continually betray one another. It started with my grandfather, Heihachi throwing my father into a ravine when he was younger. Kazuya survived the fall, but he brought back something sinister inside of him. This…dark presence. It feeds off of misery, chaos, and destruction. The cycle of feuding only continued, Kazuya returning the favor and throwing Heihachi off of a cliff. At least…this was what my mother told me."

"Your mom's an honest woman I figure so I don't see why I shouldn't believe that." Kaiya commented, sitting next to him.

"I lived a relatively normal life with her, at least until Ogre appeared."

"That's right, you told me all about this back in Australia."

"…I just tend to black out when I don't keep my anger in check." Jin sighed. "I don't remember anything, but when I wake up there's usually blood everywhere and things are destroyed. This was the first time I can remember what might have spurred along my transformation into that hideous monster."

"Jin, you know that you're an actual nice guy, right? The only anger issues you have stem from your family. You seemed nice enough to me and everyone else back at the dojo. Sounds like you need to stop brooding over your family obsessively. I know you want to get rid of them, but not at the cost of your control and your sanity." Kaiya said, putting her hand on his shoulder and being mindful of the bandages on his back.

"You don't understand. As long as they are alive, I can't live knowing that there are moments where no one is safe around me." Jin spoke quietly.

"Jin, seriously. You can control it, I know you can. Your only problem is controlling it around other people. There are people who care about you, and you can't shut them out."

"It's better if I do shut them out. If they aren't here, I can't hurt them. As long as I isolate myself from everyone, they'll be safe. Every time I lose control, it gets harder and harder to come back. This time was different."

"Yeah?" Kaiya questioned, tilting her head.

"I didn't want that monster to kill you."

'**I find it amusing that you're attempting to classify us as two different beings. You're refusing to accept that no matter how hard you try to shut me out, I am the one who will always be here, Jin. You are never alone, and you will not get the silence you've been pining for since my awakening. If you're looking to define Hell on Earth, look no further than your reflection.' **Devil's voice chided into Jin's ear.

'_No. I have to believe there is a different way to get rid of you. I _know_ there's a different way.'_

'**The only way you'll ever be rid of me is if you're nothing more than a corpse.'**

'_I'll defeat you and send you away, you monster. I promise.'_

'**Things would be easier if you settled on the path to obtaining absolute strength.'**

"Well, thanks…I guess." Kaiya exhaled, looking out the window before settling her sights on him again. Jin swallowed almost nervously, his brows knitting in frustration. That nagging voice in the back of his mind was more than likely right. Jin could try and shut every one out as much as he wanted to in this need for loneliness-loneliness that he never wanted before-but that voice would always be there.

And that's when he felt Kaiya's lips against his forehead, prompting him to freeze just a little.

"I told you before. You're a good person. Don't let it control you, you control it." she said softly, and before he could say anything she was already walking to the door. "Get some rest, the old lady will be back in here to see if you need any food."

'**Well now, this is going to be much more interesting that I thought it would be. Do you still have plans on shutting her out?'**

'…_I don't know.' _Really, Jin was beginning to ask himself just why the hell he entertained this voice by responding back to it.

'**I hope you let her in. Tormenting her will be highly enjoyable.'**

/

"Start talking before I'm responsible for turning your wife into a widow!" Kazuya demanded, throwing Hideki against the glass windows of his office, the impact had enough to crack the glass. Any harder and Hideki would have been sailing countless stories to his death.

"I warned you Kazuya not to advance!" Hideki sputtered, pulling himself up, "This was a set up! I don't know who authorized it, but I've been combing through secret files and the information on the order and the Jack units themselves since I discovered a problem before the finals of the tournament!"

"Have you found anything?" Kazuya growled.

"All of the secret files have been connecting to shareholders and other employees in G Corporation. I've managed to find about five people so far, but I'm not researching. I swear to you Kazuya, I had **no** idea that this was going to happen. I was under the impression that it was only Heihachi they were sent to kill when I started looking through the database. About five minutes later the order was dispatched to include you as well."

"Find each and every one of those employees. If I find out you had any bearings on the decision to change the order, I will slaughter you and leave no remains." Kazuya hissed before he stormed out of the office.

Hideki caught his breath, straightened his suit and turned toward his computer screen. When he sat down at his desk, he clicked through his computer before a beeping sound was heard. He opened up the screen and a video conversation proceeded to load and begin. The person he had been conversing with was an old woman, her gray hair pulled into a neat bun and her smoky gray yukata showed signs of wear and tear.

"Sato-san." she greeted.

"Miyake-san." Hideki nodded.

"Your daughter is fine. She is with Kazuya Mishima's son here in my small home. I never expected her to find her way here. Perhaps it is just a twist of fate. After all, she is not aware of our knowing each other. Currently she's outside feeding my pets."

"It won't be long until she's on the move again. Let me know when she makes her way back to the city."

"Of course. What about her friend?"

"Keep an eye on him too. Kazuya's interested in him for reasons I'm unaware of. But that's a story for a later time. Thank you for taking care of her, Miyake-san."

"You're very welcome. Do tell your wife I said hello."

Hideki ended the link and returned to his work. 15 more minutes and he was staring at the list of people who were responsible for putting out the order to exterminate both Heihachi and Kazuya.

"Most of them are shareholders…" he trailed off, speaking aloud. "Two of them are top ranking executives too…Emma Kliesen, and Anastasie Clairoux…hmm…Well, there's nothing to it but to get this information to Kazuya."

Saving the data onto a drive, he stared at the crack in the window before he left his office. Things were only going to get worse from here, he believed.

/

"How are you feeling, Jin?" Miyake asked, slowly making her way into the room with Kaiya in tow who had been carrying bandages and bottles of what looked like alcohol and peroxide.

"Better, thank you." he responded.

"Your wounds are something I've never seen before, but still wounds all the same. Once you're well enough to move around some more you can wash the sheets you've bloodied and help your friend with the chores. It's rather nice to have a hot dinner instead of working myself to sleep." Miyake continued, gesturing for Jin to sit up.

"Not to worry, we won't be here for long." Kaiya added on thoughtfully.

"Oh? Where do you intend on going from here?" Miyake asked.

'**It's none of her business. It would be wise to stop the girl from blabbing. I don't trust this old human.' **Devil intervened.

"Back to the Mishima Zaibatsu," Jin cut in suddenly before Kaiya could answer, "Unfinished business there and Kaiya's agreed to help. I don't think she would stay behind if I told her to."

"You know me!" Kaiya chimed in, laughing while shooting him a confused look.

"Ah. I see. Well, let's change your bandages." Miyake said, unfolding the nearby chair.

Kaiya set the bottle down and motioned for Jin to turn onto his stomach. She leaned over to peel off the bandages slowly as Miyake instructed her from the other chair. He heard Kaiya let out a noise and then cringe before unscrewing the bottle off of the alcohol.

"It's not as bad as it was last night. Still looks horrible, but far better." the old woman commented, "Last night she was removing what appeared to be pieces of feathers. At least it wasn't bone. Goodness, she spent the better half of the night washing out blood and changing bandages while you slept."

"Easy lady. I think he's been through enough. I don't think he needs a recap of last night, nor does he want one."

'Well at least she's being mindful of your otherwise unnecessary guilt.'

Jin had been bruised and broken before, but even he despised the feeling of alcohol against his cuts, the stinging sensation intense enough to make him hiss out loud and grasp at the pillow. The stinging sensation didn't go away, but it was still felt, just like the bubbling from when Kaiya eventually applied peroxide. Next, she was slowly applying new bandages as Miyake hummed in approval and this sense of relief washed over him.

"Thank you."

"Don't worry about it. We'll be outta here tomorrow." Kaiya sighed, collecting the used items and leaving the room.

"…You're something sinister, inhuman even." Miyake commented quietly. Jin looked for something suitable to say, trying to ignore the threats that Devil had been offering up as suggestions. She was right; he was something sinister, something inhuman. He was nothing more than a monster, and something Kaiya shouldn't have been getting involved with.

Later that evening, an intense feeling of dread woke Jin up out of his sleep. That voice in his head had been right; something was coming. There mere thought of trying to guess at what it was made his head hurt and coiled around his heart tightly and that voice in his mind began to claw its way to the front. Jin could hear the sounds of chains snapping, bonds being undone and a mad cackling. The voice was not his own, it belonged to another person. It wasn't Kazuya's voice, and it wasn't Heihachi's. He couldn't place it, but it grew louder and made his head hurt even more. It forced him out of bed and the scars on his back to pulsate and then burn so fiercely that he couldn't find his voice to yell out in pain.

He could feel it, his bones shifting and transforming so that his body could accommodate those black wings again, and this time he couldn't stop the pair of horns from sprouting from his skull, paying no heed to the blood trickling down his temples and back. His hands became clawed even as chains attempted to bind his arms and feet but failed to do so, settling on merely hanging there and clinking together when he moved.

His teeth sharpened, and his eyes flickered from brown to a clear color and then just like that, the pain stopped as if it had never existed. When he came across his reflection in the mirror he grinned.

"Oh, how lovely it feels to be back in control."

Devil Jin dragged his clawed hand across the mirror, making it emit a loud screeching sound before he shattered it into pieces. This caught the attention of Miyake who opened the door. To say that she was speechless was an understatement, and fear radiated throughout her entire body.

"You should learn to not pry. It's not something people enjoy." Devil Jin spat, raising his claws and shredding through Miyake, sending blood onto the floor. Her body hit the floor with an audible thud and he merely left the room, in search of the other person here. Unlike Jin, he welcomed the power of being able to take lives, the power to be able to destroy. He reveled in the power to silence Jin's voice from his mind, and he would use Jin's body as his own.

"Jin, I heard something break-Shit." Kaiya had ran in afterward to find him standing there and Miyake's corpse lying on the floor, bleeding out.

"Did you miss me, human?" he asked, "Because I've certainly missed you. There's a game we need to catch up on, so make yourself useful.." he grabs her, delighted at the way she's so light and the noise she makes as he throws her out of the house literally, "…and run now."

Kaiya landed on her feet, cursing. "You have to be fucking joking me." she grumbled as he casually walked out of the house, a grin on his face the entire time, "You must be fucking joking."

"I'm going to take joy in this little game." he finished, smirking. His wings spread completely and in one flap he took off, charging toward her.

The time to conduct his symphony of torment had begun.

/

* * *

**Author's Notes: **Finally, another chapter completed! I left you at a cliffhanger, but I hope that I at least gave you some kind of food for thought. In the next installment, you get more Devil Jin, and some other characters will be making their presences known too! Remember, these later chapters set up pieces for the next. I do hope you enjoyed reading it; I was bitten by the bug and couldn't stop writing until this reached some kind of end.

**

* * *

Next Chapter (Preview):**

"You're taking everything of theirs?" Hideki asked, watching Kazuya adjust the jacket of his purple suit, "_Everything_?"

"Clearly, you're not aware of how I exact my vengeance. Once you are, perhaps you'll see why it's never wise to cross me." Kazuya replied before looking at the two guards who stood by the door, "Bring them all in here right now!"

'_This isn't exactly vengeance…' _Hideki thought.

/

Devil Jin watched as Kaiya narrowly ducked his fist, and he watched as the wall he hit cracked and proceeded to fall. She had jumped away from him, but it wasn't fast enough to stop him from grabbing her ankle and slamming her against the floors of the Cathedral.

"God…!" Kaiya gasped in pain, curling away from him and he grinned, using his boot to turn her onto her back.

"God? God can't save you." he told her, kneeling down and getting as close as he could, feeling her breath against his lips. "Now, give to me what you can _never_ take back!"

/

"Prison was hell." Hwoarang stated bluntly, even as Baek glared at him. Well, he would admit that sneaking out and joining the previous tournament was a bit risky…and stupid, but it was all for the chance to meet the one person who helped give his life some kind of meaning. Whether Jin liked it or not, he was Hwoarang's rival and that wasn't going to change. Somewhere deep down, he got the feeling he at least left some kind of mark in Kazama's life.


	9. Pressure

**Author's Notes: **Oh I'm back with more this time! Hooray! So I left it at a partial cliffhanger, but to make it up to you I provided you with some previews! I assume this chapter is going to be lengthy again, because there are even more characters that will be popping up. Look for the time jump, y'all. I think that's obvious too! Yes, changes to the previews = obvious as well! Enjoy~

**Disclaimer: **You know the drill. I don't own Tekken, Namco Bandai does and no copyright infringement is intended. I only own the people and places that obviously look like they don't belong, and suing me will get you absolutely nothing. Nothing.

_Blind Justice_

_Part Nine: Pressure_

The evening sky, still speckled with stars, was the only witness to the events below. It loomed, stretching endlessly as the life beneath it continued to thrive. The evening sky was an intimidating figure, remaining there, never to be touched, just simply admired.

If Devil Jin had his way, the evening sky would be the last thing Kaiya got to see. He rushed toward her, one clawed hand outstretched and poised for a hard swipe. He would tear her to pieces. When he struck nothing but air his frustration steadily rose. This one human girl was already the bane of his existence, an obstacle in his path. If he found control—if he kept her alive—he would torture her until she submit to him, just like the other mindless humans of this world would do when he ruled it. They prayed and worshipped their gods, believing if they followed a distinct path, they would be rewarded and yet they spent their days committing murder, adultery and other various misdeeds. They were nothing more than hypocrites who moonlighted as false saints.

He turned around to see her land on her feet and stare at him while she stood up. Her breathing was still erratic and he could feel her anger and frustration rippling throughout her as she dropped into what he deduced as her fighting stance. Yes, he had spent the days watching through Jin's eyes as he always did. As Jin filed away information, so did the darkness inside of him by default.

"I'm not running." she spat at him, "You're deluded if you think I'm gonna let a fucking _parasite_ who's taken control of someone I care about make me run."

Cackling, he clenched his claws and beat his wings again, "There isn't any fun in prey who don't run."

"Awww, well that's too bad." Kaiya snorted, "Come and get me."

"I'll make you regret your words, human."

"Stop talking and do it!"

**She's provoking me. She's asking for her death.**

_Kaiya, why are you so reckless? _

**I'll give her credit for looking at me in a way that I can't easily decipher. You seem to be the one she's speaking to, if I didn't think twice. Let's see if you can save her again.**

Kaiya was the first to strike and land a blow, her foot connecting with his jaw and sending him staggering backward. Wisely not giving him any breathing room she followed it up with a series of closed fists, being smart enough to angle them in a manner so that she would avoid fracturing her own hand. Each strike was hard and had as much strength she could muster, and remained fluid all the while. This was more like it; she was fighting in attempts to survive, fighting in attempts to break his hold on Jin. If he had some semblance of pity, he would tell her here and now that fighting for Jin was useless, and she was only going to wind up giving away her life.

He parried an incoming kick, throwing her over his shoulder and following it up two hard swipes, his anger clearly apparent. The first one caught her and the second one hit air. Kaiya landed on her feet again, and the scent of blood filled his nostrils. He watched her trail her hand along the right side of her body where he ribs lay and draw it back to reveal blood. She didn't linger in one place, she charged right toward him and her fist met his face again, sending him staggering backward. He seized another hard left from her and she pushed against him. Lowering her hand, Devil Jin stared into her eyes, which were narrowed and full of everything from hatred to fear. The slightest inkling of fear he caught made him grin again, showing her his fanged teeth, his own white eyes wild.

"This is pointless!" he told her, "You're going to die here tonight!"

"Jin! Answer me!" Kaiya commanded through her clenched teeth, and the demon realized she wasn't staring at him again, but she was staring at Jin and he had begun clawing his way to the surface again, repeating her name over and over again. An unknown feeling rose within the demon, _not _the man, and it was an unwelcome feeling. So unwelcome, it made him shove her backward and let out another inhuman roar before he felt himself being pushed back into the confines of Jin's mind slowly.

Kaiya had begun to stand up, her vision lingering on him before she frowned and attempted to walk toward him.

"**Don't**!" Jin warned, voice distorted and vision blurring in and out. The monster within had been fighting for control again, putting him on edge and in a place where he was unsure if he would lose control again. "Stay back!"

"Fight back, Jin!" Kaiya growled, closing more space between them and he could feel her hands on his face, forcing him to look into her eyes, "You're not a monster, so fight! Fight for the sake of the people you know and care about! Fight for me!"

The mark on his arm burned again, it burned until he couldn't feel it anymore and just like before, the fight inside his mind came to a screeching halt and that voice in the back of his mind became a whisper. It was still there and had yet to leave completely, but he could hear his own thoughts, if only for a moment.

_Why is Kaiya doing this? Why is she risking her life like this? _

Why was she looking at him as if he wasn't a monster who tried to kill her? The fact that he didn't receive an answer was welcoming, still so used to that nagging and prominent voice making him aware of everything, especially of the fact that he made his intentions well known. That voice, quick to smash any traces of hope was the prime reason Jin isolated himself from everyone. There was no need to introduce any one to such a horrible thing that was apart of him. Why was this moment so different?

"Kaiya." he mumbled, his eyes not leaving hers.

Kaiya. For every amount of distance he put between them, she and Xiaoyu were the ones who pushed, but Kaiya pushed so hard she was willing to give up living, willing to steep herself into his problems no matter how deep it got. Whether it was foolish or admirable he wouldn't know, but he would go with the second part for a little while longer. Kaiya forced him to expose the one part of him he despised and physically she paid for it…and she still called for him, for his voice alone. Even as that demon scratched and yelled at her, she wanted him and she kept fighting until he was the one looking at her.

"There you are!" she sighed, obviously relieved and ignoring her injuries for the umpteenth time, "I knew you were in there somewhere."

Kaiya didn't see him as a monster, she stared at that 'monster' head on. Even after 7 years apart, she saw him as human and not a cursed individual. Instead of treading around or ignoring something that was apart of him, again, she was the one who was straightforward and forced the answers out of him.

"Why did you-" he started to ask her.

"What, was I supposed to run and leave you by yourself? You gotta learn that people care about you, idiot. They want to help, and you know something, you're being completely fucking stupid by shutting people out. Letting you know here and now that I'm **not** going _anywhere_. I should punch you every time you even attempt to do that." Kaiya cut in, giving him a look.

"…Would you…" Jin replied, trying to find the right words to say, "You don't have to, but-"

"Spit it out, you're usually to the point."

"Stay with me…?" he finally said, wishing he could look away, but for the first time ever he was waiting for her reaction, anxiousness rising inside, another new feeling taking hold of him. He assumed that was another thing he had been in the dark about.

_You're smitten with her. _

That's what he remembered Hashimoto telling him. Kaiya smiled at him again before she nodded.

"Yeah, Jin. I'll stay with you."

He surprised the both of them when he put his arms around her in a hug. He felt her relax and then lean close against him, and he decided that this wasn't bad at all. It was something entirely new for Jin, and if he recalled right, he only lived once.

/

Kazuya was seething. He stared outside the window of the newly cleaned office, hearing the cleaning services sweep away the pieces of porcelain he had destroyed in his fit of anger. Some bastards had the gall to think they could try and kill him, and to make matters worse they were apart of the corporation he voluntarily worked with. He consented to their experiments in a quest to learn more about the being that was apart of them, and to appeal to their need to become a well-known name, a name that was strong enough to compete with the likes of the Mishima Zaibatsu.

He balled up his fist and slammed it against the desk before he got up noisily and settling his sights on a silent Hideki. Hideki never questioned him, not even since he had him escorted back to this building. Kazuya wouldn't even question the bruises on the other man—those were Hideki's and he didn't care—he only stared in silence. The situation that occurred some time ago was proof that Kazuya couldn't trust anyone but himself.

"Fools. After what I've done for them." he hissed, "They'll pay with their lives."

"You're taking everything of theirs?" Hideki asked as Kazuya adjusted the jacket of his purple suit, "_Everything_?"

"Clearly, you're not aware of how I exact my vengeance. Once you are, perhaps you'll see why it's never wise to cross me." Kazuya replied. He turned toward the set of guards that had been standing by the door.

"Bring them all in here at once!" he bellowed.

'This isn't exactly vengeance…' Hideki thought, wisely refraining from showing any kind of emotion, no matter how much his gut churned with feelings of guilt, 'This is just slaughter…'

He could only watch as the executives were ushered in here, faces depicting dread and shame. Kazuya didn't bother asking if they wanted to tell the truth, nor did he ask why they did it. He simply stared at them, mentally thinking of one suitable punishment, ensuring they never tricked or tried to have him killed ever again.

Hideki was unable to keep a straight face as Kazuya transformed into Devil, purple wings sprouting from his back, followed by his tail and then claws spouting from fingernails. The slaughter began, and Hideki couldn't shut out the screaming as he killed them one by one, Emma Kliesen being the last to greet death, even as tears streamed down her face and she pleaded for forgiveness, saying that she was merely a by stander, there were more people who had bigger roles than she did in trying to kill him. The most striking detail Emma had uttered was that she needed to live for her child. It made Hideki think of his own child's safety.

Without a shred of pity, Kazuya appeared as his human self again, looking at the blood as it pooled over the floor. With a single command he had the room being cleaned, all without sparing Hideki a single glance. His message had been delivered.

/

Two Months.

Two Months felt like two years as cliché as it sounded. Imagine that a single letter delivered to him while in jail was responsible for being a breath of fresh air. And then just like that, that guard who clearly had a stick up his ass and lived for telling him that he was shit for getting charged with desertion was telling him he was free to go.

Hwoarang splashed some water on his face before he looked hard into the mirror. The remnants of soap had gone down the constantly breaking and rusted drain, water droplets trailing along his jaw and then coming to a point on his chin and falling into the really tiny sink. With another long look at the letter lying on his uncomfortable cot—the type of discomfort he was already used to—he turned back to his reflection in the mirror.

In a span of two months, short, spiky and dyed red hair had grown out again, and the traces of his brown hair had begun to show. As soon as he was out of this hell hole, he would go home and have it dyed again, maybe permanently once he could get the money to do it. Breathing out again, he stood upright and gave his upper body the once over. He wasn't even going to deny the many times he stepped out of line and received punishment for it. There were still a couple of bruises along his stomach and ribs that were healing, and Hwoarang decided that it could've been worse; it could've been his face they were aiming for.

He already knew he was going to catch hell for deserting something he hated being apart of, but there was no way in hell that he was going to pass up a chance to defeat Jin Kazama. When he was caught, he was caught before any serious fighting could've been done. The only embarrassment that might have been felt was when they had the nerve to kick him while he was down in front of Jin _before_ they dragged him off to the waiting van.

The army was supposed to instill some sort of structure into him. If anything it left Hwoarang with a sour taste in his mouth, so much so that the subject made him seethe inwardly. If anything, the army only drove to make sure that he didn't end up like some mindless drone spouting orders and stepping on weaker people. There was only one person that was worth his attention, one person that he admired and respected.

That one person might have been responsible for the fragment of guilt that welled up inside of him for a couple of moments before ebbing away the moment he tore his gaze away from the dirty mirror and retrieved the paper so that he could read it again. This paper, after two months of hell meant freedom. He had gathered his belongings just as the cell door slid open. Hwoarang could have strolled on out of that prison with a grin on his face as other inmates shot him death stares, but he settled for keeping a straight face.

Any straight face he had on was obliterated when he saw the person that was responsible for his freedom standing there across from him clad in a dark brown suit with his lips in a thin line and his eyes narrowed slightly. There went that small feeling of guilt again, flowing back and then ebbing away when he spoke.

"How was prison?" Baek Doo San's voice asked calmly, as if he had been asking for the time.

"Prison was hell." Hwoarang replied bluntly, even as Baek glared at him. Well, he would admit that sneaking out and joining the previous tournament was a bit risky…and stupid, but it was all for the chance to meet the one person besides Baek who helped give him and his life some purpose. For a while, Hwoarang felt as if he was merely drifting along, making bonds that would fade over time whilst trying to make a name for himself subconsciously. He would only keep to himself the facts that Baek and Jin had done their parts to leave a lasting impact on him. Jin Kazama was his rival and that wasn't going to change for a single moment. After they fought to a draw, Hwoarang liked to believe that he himself ignited something in Jin, even if the other made it seem like he hadn't.

"There's something I need to show you when we get home." Baek told him this time, and judging from how stern his voice sounded, the older man wasn't pleased. Whether it was because he served time in prison or because of the something he mentioned just now, Hwoarang would figure it out later.

/

"This is the tenth time you've woken up like that." Kaiya pointed out quietly, extending her palm outward, her eyes locking onto one of the birds that rested on a branch, observing her curiously. Jin silently pushed her arm up an inch or two and then her face twisted into a small frown before she muttered something incoherent. He spared another look and then she sighed in turn.

"Something is coming. I don't know what it is, but it's triggering the monster inside of me more and more." he told her.

"I know. You told me to keep count of how many times you partially transform in your sleep." Kaiya replied, "It's a bit of killer seeing you look at me like a kicked puppy. Y'know, it's still _you _that wakes up, partial turn or not."

"You don't know how many times this…this thing warns me that you're dangerous."

"Dangerous?" Kaiya questioned before she smirked, "Hell yes I am."

"I wouldn't say dangerous…more like reckless." Jin said, crossing his arms as a smirk appeared on his face.

"You like it." Kaiya teased, sticking her tongue out at him before patting him on the shoulder, "Otherwise you wouldn't have wanted me to stay with you. By the way, why is it that you only partially transform nowadays?"

"…What do I look like?" Jin wondered aloud.

"What? You mean when you've transformed?" Kaiya blinked before she paused, "Oh! Right, it's not like you look in a mirror or anything…but you look…you look good."

Jin stared at her for a couple of moments, unamused expression very much apparent. "Thank you for lying."

"Eh, it's no problem." Kaiya smiled.

Jin noticed her eyes—calm despite the circumstances—and that they were same as he had seen them in his dreams. As of late, more like since the night she had pulled him back from the brink of another rampage, she had been appearing in his dreams on more than one occasion. Each dream had been filled with complete and utter chaos. Destruction ran rampant, and the cries of people echoed on. He was the cause, he knew he was. Each dream had gotten worse than the last one and the only factors that remained unchanged were his mother and Kaiya's frequent appearances. When he woke up, Kaiya would be looming above him, her hands on his shoulders and a tired expression on her face. Jin would remain awake until daylight, fighting sleep for fear of the dream occurring again.

If she was the person who kept the monster within at bay, then what would happen if she wasn't here?

'**That's right, fool. Let the seed of doubt grow a little more.'**

/

News of Heihachi Mishima's death had spread far and wide just two days after the events at Honmaru. When Ling Xiaoyu read the headlines of the newspaper—she didn't spend _all _of her time dilly-dallying with Miharu—she remembered going over the bold black ink multiple times and then having her friend pinch her as hard as she could. Needless to say that the red mark on her arm which was still stinging was absolute proof that she was not dreaming.

Instead of rejoicing with some people out in public, she mourned, having begun to cry in the middle of her lunch period which attracted some stares. The last thing she remembered was Miharu ushering her out of the area quickly and to the restroom so she could cry a little more. Heihachi had died without even trying to mend the relationship with his son or Jin for that matter. He had taken her in at one point, having been impressed with her skills after defeating a fleet of his men and he had never seemed mean. Sure he was completely intimidating, but no one else would've taken her in and helped her hone her skills, not to mention give her an endangered species as a bodyguard! If it wasn't for him, she wouldn't have met Jin and that's what made this hurt even more for her.

As time trickled by, Xiaoyu couldn't help but remember the things the leader of Manji party, Yoshimitsu had told her in the previous tournament. She had entered the last one, the message she received about Heihachi and his intentions being from Jin—it had to be, who else had her number and close connections with Heihachi—being her motive to look high and low for Jin. Unfortunately, instead of advancing to fight Kazuya, she was taken out by Yoshimitsu. It was then she learned of the history of Heihachi and how he raised Kazuya.

"Miharu, why do things have to be like this?" she cried, slumping into her chair as Miharu frowned and held out a can of juice toward her. The frown never left her usually cheerful face, even as she popped open the can and smelled strawberries and kiwis before she took a tentative sip.

"It's not like Heihachi was the golden man. If you ask me, It might not be so bad with him being dead-" Miharu responded, only to cut herself off when she noted Xiaoyu glaring at her.

"Mi-chan, you already know that if it wasn't for Heihachi I wouldn't have met Jin!" the pigtailed girl insisted, sitting up and making juice slosh out of the can and down her hand. Here, she paused and let out a sigh of longing. "Jin…"

"It's been a while since we've seen him…" Miharu pondered, "Dropped off the face of the earth after the third tournament, and you stalled your dreams on that amusement park. What was it called again?"

"Xiaoyu Land, but Miharu I have more important things on my plate!" Xiaoyu answered quickly, "The person that took me in is dead, and more importantly his grandson has been missing since the last tournament. Mi-chan, I _know_ it was Jin that sent that message to me! He has to be out there somewhere, I bet he entered the tournament!"

"Maybe he was apart of that weird explosion that happened two months ago?" Miharu suggested, although that seemed to have been the wrong thing to say because Xiaoyu nearly dropped her can of juice and her mouth dropped open in a whiny-sounding "Mi-chaaaan!" before her mind proceeded to jump to thousands of conclusions.

"…If only I could turn back time…"

/

No matter how many times he had been here, the city still made Jin feel out of place. There was constant motion, hardly any stillness. It lacked the peacefulness of the forests he had become so used to. Jin could adapt easily without a problem, but he supposed it was preference. He still wasn't able to place what had been triggering the powers of the Devil Gene enough to make him transform in his sleep, and constantly left him on edge.

Kaiya was stuck with him. She was the only thing keeping him from losing control and destroying everything he could get his hands on, be it people, places, or things. He never knew what happened after he would lose control, it was just tell-tale feelings that were leftover. He knew he was doing something wrong and unlike him but he was powerless to stop it. If she was the only thing there, then attempting to isolate himself from her left him open and vulnerable.

'**To think, you would have been better off by yourself. Now look at what you've done. You've made that human girl your safety mechanism, tainted her in your dreams, and have all but put a target on her back.' **Devil's voice chortled in his ear, and Jin sat down in the chair, his brown eyes falling onto Kaiya who had been flipping through the paper with an almost grim-expression.

'**Did you really think you could shut me out entirely, knowing you need me?'**

'_Need you? I never wanted you.'_

'**You never had a choice. You were always mine.'**

'_That's not true.'_

'**But it is. Face it, you need others to help you, but you know very well of what I can do. She has followed you so far, hasn't she?'**

'_I never wanted her to…but…'_

'**Look at yourself. Now you want her. Now you **_**need**_** her.'**

Jin tensed up in his chair, his fingers clenching the arm rest.

'**Oh, don't do that. That old man said it before. You're smitten with her, and now that she's always around it's about time thoughts of that nature slithered into the forefront of that head of yours. You can't hide anything from me.'**

"Heihachi is dead, right?" Kaiya asked this time, cutting into the back-and-forth between him and Devil.

"Yes." Jin answered, certain of that fact. Even he had witnessed that explosion, which had been hard enough to reduce the complex to rubble. If anyone had escaped the blast zone, it was a miracle.

"Then who's sponsoring this?" Kaiya asked, setting the paper down in front of him.

Right before his eyes was an ad promoting the Fifth King of Iron Fist Tournament. As soon as he finished reading the words, a familiar feeling coursing through his body.

This was it.

/

"Are you _serious_?" Hwoarang blurted in the middle of the bike shop, alerting some potential buyers and earning himself a smack in the face with an oily rag. "Damnit Izumi!"

"You're going to scare my customers off, jackass!" the shorter girl swore, putting her hands on her hips. Hwoarang had come across Izumi during the last tournament while in Japan. He had been mulling briefly over being knocked out of the tournament at least until the sight of a bike caught his eye. Compelled, he had walked into the garage to see the girl bent over, tuning the machine up.

He wasn't going to lie, it was nice to see a girl in shorts that should've been illegal to wear in public, black boots that were sloppily tied, and her skin and gray shirt splotched with dirt and oil stains here and there. However, the bike had been up there too. It certainly was nice. And then just like that, Izumi had been glaring at him, her black hair littered with navy streaks and her eyes narrowed. She asked him what the hell he was staring at, and he glared back her while pointing to the newly repaired bike. Five minutes later, he had been sitting on it, and testing it out, and in another ten minutes he had been leaving with it, Izumi claiming that she could always get another one.

Since then, he had been dragging the bike back to her shop mangled because he had gotten it fucked up somewhere along the way. She would glare, complain, and then they would have some kind of shouting match and then he would be waiting while she fixed it free of charge. And then she got tired of giving him free passes to fuck up the bike, so somehow this turned into some weird part-time job while he was in Japan, at least until he had gotten drafted into the army.

"Sorry, it's just that I never thought my luck would be this sweet!" Hwoarang finally answered as Izumi wiped at the counter before tossing the rag aside again.

"Come again?" she asked, her eyebrows raised.

Hwoarang gestured to the advert in the magazine he had been reading. There it was, an ad for another tournament. Re-reading it, he broke out into a grin. Lady Luck had been smiling on him again, it seemed. Now he could make up for last tournament, no interruptions to be had. He would show Jin that he was the better fighter and things would be great again.

"Oh." Izumi deadpanned.

"_Oh_? You don't get it squirt, this is my chance!" Hwoarang insisted, tossing the magazine onto the counter.

"You know, if you keep talking about Jin Kazama like you always do, I'm reserving rights to think you're gay." Izumi remarked coolly, smirking.

"…If you were a man, this would be the part where I'd punch you in the fucking face." Hwoarang snorted as the bell to the shop chimed. When he turned to see the customer standing there he quieted himself. It was Baek, completely serious expression saying everything it needed to.

"…I'm gonna take off, Izumi." Hwoarang spoke up, much to Izumi's ire.

"_Bullshit_, Hwoarang! You're-"

"It's important. I'll be takin' my bike too."

"If you fuck it up, I'm **not** fixing it again!" Izumi huffed as Hwoarang walked toward his master, waving his hand at her dismissively.

Not even her scream of frustration could deter him, there was training to be done.

/

"I like how you've swooped in to play the father card." Kaiya snorted into her phone, "_Now _you do it? What happened?"

"Kaiya, you almost died in an explosion! Why were you in the tournament to begin with?" Hideki demanded, something akin to frustration and relief present in his voice. He hadn't heard anything from Miyake since the last time he contacted her, and when he had co-workers survey the area she lived in, they found her body.

"Okay, I didn't die, I'm alive and as well as I can be. I entered the tournament so I could help Jin. We all know how _that_ turned out. Fucking Tekken Force."

"Kaiya-"

"Before you go on the 'it's dangerous' route, I know. But even **I** want to know who had the balls to throw this tournament, especially if the head of the Mishima Zaibatsu is dead, and any potential heirs are elsewhere. Volcano guy's still alive, right?" she interrupted, and Hideki could hear her shuffle about.

"Please, just do me this favor and go home. Get back to Hanamaki and stay there with Mayumi." he sighed.

"Sorry Dad. Can't do that. Gotta get to the bottom of things, and I promised in more ways than one that I'd help Jin out." Kaiya replied, "And by the way, Mom isn't home. She said she flew off to Ichinoseki…got tired of waiting."

"…I can't blame her." Hideki responded forlornly, looking down at his shoes.

"Whatever. Look, I'll go home when you do. Guess we owe it to her. Talk to you whenever." Kaiya finished, hanging up. Hideki slammed the phone down, breaking it. With Emma Kliesen's horrified face in his mind, he spied the flyer for the tournament Kazuya left behind and picked it up.

He would bring Kaiya home by force if he had to.

/

The last thing Jin remembered before going to sleep for the night was his conversation with Kaiya. Neither of them knew who the benefactor of this tournament was. With the person who usually sponsored them dead, it left it open as to who could have. They entertained the thought of Kazuya doing it, but he was quick to remember that he had knocked Kazuya unconscious.

"We'll figure stuff out tomorrow." Kaiya told him before he had dozed off.

As usual, his dreams were better off considered as nightmares. He could only watch as Kaiya dashed past the gates of what he assumed was a Cathedral followed by them shutting behind her. She skidded to a stop, out of breath before looking around, only stopping when she seemed to notice him. A smile appeared on her face and she started to walk toward him, at least until a few black feathers fell to the floor in front of him. He wanted to tell her to run like he always did, and of course his pleas fell on deaf ears.

Up until now, besides knowing that his nightmares only consisted of torture and death, Jin had never seen who was causing it, he only felt that it was him. He really did mean it when he thanked Kaiya for lying to him as he watched himself appear in front and block his vision of her. Jin believed that he was hideous, those horns sprouting from his head, that red jewel that could've posed as a third eye. The markings appeared on his chest and forehead when he turned around, and the mark on his arm had become much more prominent and he could feel it throb every now and then. And then the monster had the audacity to grin, obviously happy.

"**You've finally decided to visit. Wonderful**!" he said before turning to look at Kaiya, "**See? Now you aren't by yourself**."

"Bite me!" Kaiya spat, glaring.

"**I will, since you've insisted on it, but a little later. Now Jin, sit back**." that monster instructed. When he said 'sit back', he obviously meant being uncomfortably bound and forced to watch everything like always. Jin struggled against his bonds as his demonic self advanced on Kaiya who immediately took action by stepping backward, against the nearby wall. She glanced at him before turning her sights back on her unwanted opponent.

"Don't just sit there, unbind yourself!" she hissed, ducking downward and rolling out of the way as stone fell against the floor. She recovered, switching into a hard back kick, which had been easily parried. Jin watched Kaiya land against the ground face first, the impact enough to break the ground and knock the wind out of her.

"God…!" she managed to gasp, adrenaline forcing her to curl away from him and Jin tugged against his bonds some more. He was stopped by that voice, the voice that had been with him for such a long time. The voice whose face was his own.

"**No**." he warned, "**I told you that you couldn't stop me. I told you that if I was in control **_**she**_** would be the first one I would take care of**."

Jin could hear Kaiya groan in pain before he watched as that monster rolled her onto her back with his boot before he crouched down to speak to her.

"God…" the demon chuckled, "God can't save you, my dear."

Crouching turned into his clawed hand pulling her up by her neck, and a sadistic grin appeared on his face as she struggled, gasping for air. He pulled her toward him, his grip forcing her to look at him.

"Now, give to me what you can _never_ take back!"

The binds around Jin broke, and he shot upright, "I'll kill you first!"

'**It's such a shame it was just a dream. I was just getting into the swing of wondering what it would be like to dominate her completely.' **That voice in his mind chuckled darkly before fading out again. Jin was awake and Kaiya had been in front of him like so many times before.

"Eleven." she uttered and he looked over her shoulder and into the mirror. He glared at the reflection of himself, partially transformed. He really was a hideous monster who should have been by himself. Before he could tell Kaiya that he was leaving, he felt her arms wrap around him to the best of their abilities.

"Still you, right?" she questioned, looking up at him. Jin shook his head, moving to get away from her. This was _not_ who he was.

"No. I **told** you. I'm a monster-" he started to snap at her, only to see her crush her lips against his after uttering a simple 'Shut up please.'

'**Monster or not, close your eyes, fool. It's apparently uncouth to kiss with your eyes open.'**

**

* * *

**

**End Notes: **I failed at resisting all temptation to end this humorously. Clearly. In any case, I hope you've enjoyed this massive amount of tl;dr and you know that this story is eventually coming to it's end in another two or three chapters! You never know, I still have a couple more characters to play around with and of course the obvious obstacle of Jinpachi and those other two guys that have popped up recently.

* * *

**What to (Possibly) Expect Next Time:**

_'You'd be completely in the dark without me.' that voice spoke into his ear, 'You want to compromise with me or should I just leave?'_

/

_"We know it's rude to stare, and it's not like she'll know its you. You don't have your helmet on and as of now we're out of jobs."_

/

_"Kazama. That's your last name?"_

_"Yeah. So?"_

_"Well, shit. There's more than one Kazama roaming around. Somehow, that's comforting. You're not gonna brood a lot are you?"_

_"Come again?"_

/

_"Hey! Cherry girl!"_

_"…The fuck did you just call me?"_


	10. Roads Part One

**Author's Notes: **I'm not dead, really! Honestly, we're coming to the home stretch of this story and setting up the pieces for a new one that I've been fighting with in regards to setting it up. I'm pretty sure once this one is done, starting the next will be easy. You figure that with all the plans I've been scribbling down I'd have something but my brain is fickle as hell. Enough of my rambles, go on and read! Also, I should be making this clear, but usually I tend to refer to Devil Jin as Devil here, especially since Kazuya has controlled his half. But I still mean Devil Jin!

**Disclaimer: **You know the drill. I don't own Tekken, Namco Bandai does and no copyright infringement is intended. I only own the people and places that obviously look like they don't belong, and suing me will get you absolutely nothing. Nothing.

* * *

_Blind Justice_

_Part Ten: Roads (Part One)_

_

* * *

_

So began the almost robotic process. She would pick it up, wrap the small stem around part of her finger, hold it up to her calm gaze and inspect it for bruises, part her lips, and then bite down. She'd tug until the miniscule piece of fruit was half depleted, and then use her teeth to remove the pit and let it drop into the white napkin and stain it red. With another bite the remainder of the fruit would no longer exist, and she'd be back at it again several seconds later.

Occasionally she would pause, scan the room and look at the faces of people going on about their business and then resume her task of devouring cherries as if it that moment had been one of the best in the world in ages.

"Strange that she's cheated death, right?" a relaxed voice asks, and it finally diverts attention elsewhere. "She cheats death and gets to enjoy the fruit of immortality. We cheat death and are out of jobs."

"Not exactly."

"Lars, Heihachi's been dead for two months."

"That doesn't mean a damned thing!" Lars snapped in response, his fist clenching.

"Hey, Alexandersson. _Relax_."

"Tougou, Heihachi is dead, but someone's still pulling strings. There's a tournament being held, and I would love nothing more than to get to the bottom of things…but apparently the Tekken Force has been issued orders investigate something involving G Corporation beginning work on a project outside of Japan."

"Well, I hope it's Amsterdam or Stockholm." Tougou remarked, "Someone really needs to visit his mother…and I need a good bottle of imported beer. It all works out."

Lars shot the other man an angry look before his sights settled on the woman he had been watching before he arrived. Kaiya had been leaving money on the table and grabbing her jacket.

"What about her?" Tougou asked, leaning back in his chair, "You're not still thinking about what happened back at Honmaru are you?"

"…She never answered my question. Was any of this worth it?" Lars replied off handedly, tightening his grip on the coffee cup so that he wouldn't stand up and approach her.

"For her it might be. I've got to hand it to Cherry girl. She was willing to fight you with busted limbs if it meant getting to Jin." Tougou chuckled. Both men watched as Kaiya left the small little café, slipping into her jacket while whistling an otherwise cheerful melody until she was out of sight.

* * *

'**If all you can do while meditate is think of that insufferable human girl then it's best that you stop meditating.' **Devil's voice snorted in the back of his mind. Jin was sure that if that monster had a body that wasn't shared he'd be pacing back and forth. If he listened hard enough, he could probably hear footsteps inside of his mind but all he heard was the sound of chains clinking together. Devil was obviously growing more and more impatient as the day of the tournament neared.

'_So she's insufferable now,' _Jin thought, as he stood up and adjusted his gauntlets, _'Last night you seemed just as excited when she kissed me.'_

As soon as he thought of that, he found himself glaring at the blank wall. Jin was absolutely certain a person did not take lessons from the voices in their heads in regards to kissing someone. What startled him more was that Devil did not take control when he knew full well that he could have. Considering his dreams as of late, why didn't he seize control?

Jin's answer came strolling through the door.

'**How many times have I told you? You and I are one in the same. If you're smitten with her, I'll have a pathetic attraction to her by proxy. If you're going to keep staring at the girl, it's best that I step in and at **_**least **_**guide you. I only **_**look**_** like you, that doesn't mean my intelligence is as low.**' Devil growled.

"I did some hunting around," Kaiya responded, pushing her bangs out of her eyes, "So far, everybody thinks it's another tournament sponsored by the Mishima Zaibatsu, despite its head honcho being dead."

"I suppose the only way to find out who threw this tournament is to enter and make it to the finals." Jin replied.

"That's what it looks like. Don't worry though, No matter how many times you say you don't want my help, you're gonna get it." Kaiya said with a small smirk before gesturing to the open door. "C'mon."

"Where are we going?"

"Outside. A hotel room is no location for a spar to take place."

'**Well, it beats meditating. This should be exceptional, provided you don't screw this up.'**

* * *

"You look like shit."

"So do you."

"Wanna fight about it?"

Those three lines put but Hwoarang and Steve Fox in some relationship that could qualify as sparring partners. Hwoarang had found the man sitting at the bar nursing a glass of something to drink while looking clearly agitated. He had been hearing rumors of Steve getting by in the next round on the grounds of a disqualification and subsequently not showing up to his next fight against another participant.

Hwoarang had been itching to test his skills post finishing his training with Baek, and Steve didn't seem to mind. The Korean could use the distraction instead of doing what might have constituted as the logical thing and going to work at the shop. One of the last things he wanted was to have a short woman barking orders at him.

He had learned that the reason Steve didn't advance was because he and his opponent were ambushed by the Tekken Force and got themselves owned. Steve didn't know why they were after her, but all he knew was that he paid the price. Later on he was approached by officer Lei Wulong and from then on that conversation opened up an entire can of worms that Steve wasn't even sure he could take.

Hwoarang had to give Steve credit; he was fast on his feet enough to dodge his flurry of oncoming kicks and slip in between for a quick punch to the face. He was beginning to see why he was previously champion. The punch drew blood, Hwoarang could feel it sting profusely. It only brought up a small smirk. If there was something else Hwoarang loved, it was the rush of battle with an opponent who could hold their own.

Steve's confusion faded just a second later, and he gave a shrug and a small smile of his own.

"Shall we?" he asked.

"Bring it on!"

* * *

If Jin wanted to know what it was like to have the force of his own punch come back on him, he would do a couple of things: Fight Kazuya, Heihachi, and take a fast punch to the solar plexus from Kaiya. Any ordinary person would have crumbled at the knees, and he supposed he could thank his years of training for keeping him standing.

Kaiya slowly retracted her arm, breathing heavily, "Too hard?" she taunted, stepping back.

Jin was stronger than her, that much he knew. But Kaiya could easily hold her own in terms of speed and offense. For every time she put distance between them she was able to close it almost immediately, sometimes ensnaring him with a hard kick to his ribs. When he countered back with a flurry of combinations she would get caught and immediately rectify her mistake, making sure never to fall for the same thing twice.

Now they're completely apart, both of them trying to catch their breaths, with Kaiya looking at her forearm—she'd been doing that since they started sparring—and Jin trying to will away the dull ache in the center of his chest and on his sides. With the shrill chirping of a bird, they dash toward each other performing leaping side kicks and promptly hitting each other hard enough so that they fall against the hard ground beneath them and let out grunts of pain.

They had knocked the wind out of each other, and the only thing Devil could do was express his agitation at Jin not tapping into his full potential. They were to treat every single fight as if it were real.

"Well…it's no super punch, but it still hurts like a bitch." Kaiya panted, pushing herself up until she was on her feet, and walking over to him and holding out her hand. She smiled at him and her eyebrows raised as if saying "C'mon, get up."

Jin took her hand and she pulled until he was standing, "Thanks." He paused now, looking for something to say when he noticed her staring at him oddly. "…What is it?"

"No, it's nothing. Just curious."

"About what?"

"The monster inside you-"

"Devil. Why would you want know about that?"

"Look, if I'm going to stay with you, you have to meet me halfway, Eyebrows. You've already told me a little about it, but I never got why you couldn't-" Kaiya frowned, "Can't control it."

'**Do you want to explain it to her, or should I?' **Devil asked, amused.

"I just never could." Jin answered, not liking the lingering thoughts in the back of his mind.

"Maybe after this tournament you will." Kaiya responded, "See you tomorrow."

"Going somewhere?"

"Yeah, don't worry. Absence makes the heart grow fonder!" she finished, giving a wave.

'**I only have one question for you now, Jin. How long do you think you can keep me at bay knowing she won't be by your side?'**

* * *

How long had it been? It had been _years_. He could push it as far as _decades_. The sting of betrayal lingered after all of this time, memories of his own flesh and blood overpowering him and locking him away underneath the empire he had built as if he were nothing more than an animal with no kind of training. For what seemed like an eternity he lied there, chained and hurt.

Jinpachi Mishima had let death claim him, his will to live having completely faded, but not before something dark and sinister approached him. Its presence was suffocating, overbearing, and something that could not be ignored. It whispered in his ear promises of revenge, promises of a new life, promises of staining his hands with the blood of his son. The half of him that was just loudly pleaded for him to accept his death, accept that he was the weaker one in this moment. The half of him that held onto memories of training with his grandson pleaded for him to simply die.

But that single shred of contempt for Heihachi spurned him to give up his old life in exchange for a new one. He could feel this presence take what was left of him and the good part of him sink its nails into his mind, holding on as if it were a mother keeping its child from being wrenched away by an unwanted visitor. Jinpachi remembered utter blackness, reaching a moment where he had felt truly non existent, and in a second an explosion occurred and he inhaled deeply, his eyes flying open and his mouth unleashing an inhuman roar.

He could feel again. He could truly feel again.

Jinpachi broke the bonds that had been holding him, the howls of heaven dying down and eventually away. How wonderful it had been to feel the heat of the very flames that had surrounded him as his prison burned to the ground. How beautiful it had been to see the outside world again, at the cost of sacrificing pillars and pieces that made him who he was.

The very core of his possessed soul cried not only for revenge against Heihachi for the injustice that had been done to him, but it cried for the powers that he had never wanted until that dark presence came to him. Jinpachi remembers the voice, it sounded like his own. And it wanted to take and then destroy everything in its path. If it was like him, Jinpachi would be drawn to it like a moth to a flame. When the flames flickered in response, he was pleased.

The part of him that prayed to the Gods for a miracle cried in utter despair at being deceived.

How susceptible man was to the temptation of the Devil.

* * *

Devil pried and pawed at his host like a pet who wanted to be fed. Jin had been trying to ignore him, ignore the way his head began to hurt like it had before he would be shut away and turned into some sort of a witness to a slaughter. He was caught in believing that Kaiya's intrusion was both a blessing and a curse. The woman had a death wish if she stuck around, but he wanted her to stay with him because she kept the monster within him at bay.

**'Your fear is eating away at you.' **Devil mocked, '**Your hatred of the power you should embrace stifles you. Your sudden desire for her is almost sickening and it affects not only you, but **_**me**_** as well.'**

Jin tensed, gritting his teeth as his heart began to pound. He wanted to shut his eyes the moment they landed on his reflection in the mirror, but it was as if Devil's clawed hand tucked underneath his chin and forced him to look.

**'If you're so inclined to believe she can keep me at bay permanently-'**

_'Shut up.' _Jin commanded, narrowing his eyes.

**'Why do you seem to forget that I am the embodiment of every single dark emotion, and every single dark desire you possess? You claim to be a pure-hearted individual, just like **_**she**_** used to be…but I am the one who will **_**always **_**understand you.'**

In the space that it took to breathe, Jin saw darkness and when he opened his eyes, his own reflection towered above him, staring back at him. Devil's eyes were emotionless, empty but Jin could feel that they still yearned for something. He was right to call this darker half of himself a parasite. When massacres began, those empty eyes were full of life, joy, and an eagerness that could've been considered deadly.

**'If you desire her so much, let us find her.'**

Unwanted anticipation surfaced inside of Jin along with wishes for something akin to a miracle to show itself.

* * *

"Hope. Valor. Eloquence." Devil remarks, the clinking of his chained arms and waist enough to alert Kaiya.

He's found her in a field of flowers and by now she isn't amused or surprised to see him when their eyes meet. She has always seemed to disregard him and speaks as if it's Jin standing there across from her, and that unnerves Devil. She speaks to Jin as if he is the stronger half while Devil is the weaker one. That alone infuriates him. Who was the one that kept Jin alive? Who was the one that _never_ left Jin's side? Who was the one that gave him purpose?

No human, male or female was going to shut him away. Never again. If she wants to try, he will drag her with him. He will taint her and torment her until that fire in her eyes is snuffed out. She will be like the rest, and she will accept and know his wrath.

"What?" she asks, letting her fingers slide across the petals of the Iris flower she had been toying with.

"That's what that flower means." Devil responds.

"Man, you must _really_ like me if _you're_ here." Kaiya says, letting her fingers pull and tear at the petals of the flower until they were on the floor before she let the stem follow, "What do you want?"

"Well, **I** want you dead. I thought this was established." Devil snorts, "And I'll kill you in due time."

"What's stopping you now?" Kaiya asked, agitated.

"Jin's attraction to you." Devil responded. "Because I am apart of him, this effects me as well. The difference between us is that _I_ am the part who can satisfy my craving."

"Yeah? Well if you're expecting me to waltz right to you and tell you to take me, you're gonna be very disappointed." Kaiya warned, clenching her fists.

"I'm expecting you to fight. Outright submission is fun, but quick. I think I'm going to take great joy in dismantling your body and your soul. That look of contempt in your eyes is intriguing…" Devil remarked, inching closer. A grin appeared on his face when he could sense that her pulse sped up. "What's bothering you? My control over Jin? Or maybe it's the fact you're aware of what I'm capable of?"

Kaiya's glare intensified as she exhaled through her nose, "You're bothering me." Her anger, not her fear sent a chill down his spine.

'**Oh, I knew this was going to be fun.'**

'_You-'_

'**Don't even start your rhetoric about how you're not going to let me hurt her. I'm not going to hurt her now. I'm going to ease your curiosity.'**

"Let me tell you this, _my dear_," he spoke up, staring into Kaiya's eyes, "You have willingly begun a game with the Devil."

"Then I'll play it through to the end."

"I'm going to enjoy tearing you apart."

With one fluid motion, he pins her to the floor by her neck, jubilant at the way her hands wrap around his wrist as she begins to struggle. He leans closer to her, chuckling. "I will shred your pride to pieces, and I will make your life a living hell."

When he lets Kaiya gasp for air, he seizes her neck and speaks against her lips. "You, like every other _pitiful_ mortal on this planet will know me as God."

Excited by her anger, he crushes his lips against hers.

Jin's curiosity is not eased, and Devil's desire is not fulfilled. Guilt hangs over the head of the lighter one, and greed drives the darker one. Kaiya is the pawn traveling on the road to hell. _Their _road to divine greatness.

The road to God.

* * *

**End Notes: **Because I'm fickle, the previews obviously match up with later events. Short piece, I know, but I fought with this hard. Besides, I said 'Possibly expect'. Yes, I know I said the middle finger to canon by throwing in Lars and his wingman, but everything sets up pieces for the next event.


	11. Hurricane

**Author's Notes: **Nope, not dead yet. Though updates will be even more lengthy. Tekken fandom you've disappointed and disgusted me with your ungratefulness. If you want to follow anything regarding this and its potential, half in the works sequel, be sure to either contact me on live journal or follow my domain.

And Oh gosh, thank you Razer for pimping out my fic! It means more than you know.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Tekken, just my original characters. No copyright infringement is intended and you know, suing me gets you nothing. Absolutely nothing.

**Blind Justice**

_**Part Eleven: Hurricane**_

He could feel her fingernails scratch down the sides of his face as she let out a noise, struggling to breathe. Then he felt her teeth bite down on his bottom lip and then he tasted blood. Anger flared as he broke the otherwise unwanted kiss and she let out a gasp of air, an insult mingled in with it.

Devil Jin dodged an incoming fist, capturing it in his hand and he could hear Kaiya grunt again in obvious frustration, her eyes narrowing.

"Jin isn't going to interfere now. Not during this moment." he told her. They struggled again with her finding enough strength to roll them over so that she remained above him. Their hips constantly ground against each others and it had become harder to steadily breathe. Devil Jin's arms grasped at her shoulders, intending on digging his claws into them and rendering her arms immobile for the time being, but Kaiya had been faster. Her hands wrapped around his horns and pulled them hard enough to make it seem like she was going to rip them from his skull.

His reaction was to let that third eye glow brightly and fire a laser, and her response was to turn sharply and narrowly miss the beam of light catching her entirely, the heat burning her upper arm.

"Fuck!" she screamed, and she pulled away from him. She had been smart enough to put a little more distance between them, but Devil Jin was going to make sure she didn't slip out of his grasp. Her arm had begun to blister immediately and she shook off the pain the best she could, one knee against the ground, crushing the irises beneath.

"C'mon you son of a bitch…" she hissed in between pants.

With a cackle, he flew toward her, his wings spreading. Kaiya dashed toward him and he could hear her utter something about fighting until Jin was back again. As Jin clawed at the walls of his mind rapidly, Devil Jin had been the one maneuvering his body to evade oncoming kicks and punches. His right fist, charged with red lightning shot up in an uppercut as Kaiya advanced.

"Dah!"

Submitting to instinct, He could see her crouch down and then launch him upward with a hard knee before adding on another set of punches. With another battle cry sounding from her, he felt her boot connect with his ribs, sending him away from her. With a flap of his black wings, he stopped himself from falling against the floor and propelled himself upward so that he had been hovering above her.

'**Oh, I like her.' **he remarked, staring down at her, into her eyes. They burned with an anger so intense, an anger so raw that it had been enthralling for him. This was why she was still alive; she had an intense hatred for him and he supposed that somewhere deep down inside of her, there had been the closeted fear that Jin would never purge himself of the darkness. **'I like that she still believes in you.'**

Grinning, he gathered up just enough power to let a laser rip through the garden, tearing up the ground and incinerating the flowers, the petals catching fire and immediately burning. Kaiya grit her teeth, running toward the large tree not too far away and hoisted herself up on sturdy limb after limb before catapulting herself at him. She had been too far away, and the act in itself was reckless.

"Stupid human-" he started to say but paused when he felt her fingers dig into his right wing and pull. The shift in weight made him stagger, and like a cat who had been trying to hang on for dear life to a curtain—or possibly shred it—she pulled at his feathers, her grip tightening. She had reached the top of his wing and he faltered again, gravity pulling them toward the floor. They landed with an audible thud, and more concrete broke beneath the force. Kaiya put all of her weight onto Devil Jin, and he could still feel her fingers gripping and pulling at the black feathers, the sensations making his nerves ignite and send pain coursing throughout his back.

His threats to maim her had been ignored, Kaiya's hands moving lower toward his back, where his wings sprouted from. "Change back and let him go!" she hissed again. In protest he flapped his wings, and that only made it worse, Kaiya's hands having reached the base of the wings where the bone had been. She proceeded to pull, as if she had been attempting to tear them off, for the Jin Kazama with wings was not the Jin she wanted. The Jin Kazama she wanted was clawing his way to the surface again in a desperate attempt to fight and feel human.

With one last burst of energy, Devil Jin shook Kaiya off his back, but not before sacrificing a few more feathers in the process. When he looked over his shoulder through dangerously narrowed eyes, he could see a bundle of feathers in between Kaiya's fingers, her blood coating them, the wound on her arm more damaging than before. He stood with ease, although he could feel his right wing throbbing. Oh, the woes of being partly human. With ease he could shake this off and demolish the woman standing before him, but Jin posed as a problem. For so long the mortal kept him at bay, kept him in the back of his mind and only let him serve as the model for what he should never become, what he should never let control him. For quite some time, Jin believed that solitude was the best answer.

Oh, how fate was so cruel to him, yet so kind to his darker half. Fate allowed him to keep his fangs embedded into Jin, allowed him to weave threads of idle threats he had taken to heart, and it allowed him to believe that it was always his family who was at fault. Fate brought him this foolish but intriguing mortal woman, who was willing to give Jin an identity other than 'monster.' Fate allowed Devil Jin to see that Kaiya had already declared him insignificant while Jin had purpose. Fate gave the demon a reason to fight for something other than chaos and self satisfaction, that reason being existence. Kazuya had learned to control the power that lurked within him, but Jin had not. For as long as he had been forcibly steeped into temptation and other things this world and its people deemed vile, he still looked toward the light every now and then.

"You will not get rid of me, Kaiya." he grinned, "I will exist within Jin forever."

Kaiya remained silent, her gaze hardening before she managed a small smirk, "That's the first time you called me-"

He hadn't bothered to hear her response, as he willingly let Jin reach the land of consciousness, his horns reverting back into his skull and his wings slowly disappearing along with the marks on his body. He would let her have this victory, and Jin as well.

* * *

"A whole fucking garden got demolished, and _nobody_ saw a damned thing?" Hwoarang snorted as his eyes skimmed the paper before he tossed it across the table where a confused Steve Fox collected it to read through another article.

"What can you do? People are more excited about Heihachi kicking the bucket than a garden getting totaled and looking like a bomb hit it." he remarked it, looking over the paper to see Hwoarang light up a cigarette and Baek snatch it up and put it out and scold him for not asking if Steve minded it.

"I'm still just a tad concerned…" Baek remarked, ignoring as Hwoarang grumbled and got up from the table and walked around the railing that had served as a means of blocking off the restaurant from non-customers before lightning up his cigarette, "We don't know who the benefactor of the tournament is."

"Isn't it the Mishima Zaibatsu?" Steve questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, yes, but usually we'd see Heihachi Mishima's face everywhere promoting it. With him being dead…it's unsettling knowing some unknown person is pulling the strings. Heihachi Mishima has always struck me as a man who usually does everything with his own strength. His motives are questionable at best, but…" Baek trailed off.

"I get it. I've got a bone to pick with the Mishima Zaibatsu in any case, so I'll figure it out come tournament day!" Steve responded rather cheerfully, more than likely as a means to change the subject.

"Your lunch has arrived, enjoy!" the happy voice of the waitress spoke politely, setting the plates down and going on about her business. By then Hwoarang returned to the table and lunch was enjoyed in silence. There was no need to discuss the tournament when the prospect of filling an otherwise empty stomach was present.

* * *

Jin had been retracing the steps that got him and Kaiya back to the hotel room without being questioned too harshly as to why they were both bleeding and beat up. It was far too easy crafting an excuse as to why they were in the middle of a destroyed garden in the dead of night, and it was just as easy making their visit to the hospital quick and quiet. Jin suspected that her father wouldn't be happy with the medical bills, whenever they reached him though.

There had been a letter waiting for Kaiya when they returned, but she hadn't bothered to read it at all. Even as she grumbled something about him needing to take a shower over breakfast and the newspaper, the letter remained untouched. The tournament was in just one more day, and those nightmares had returned again. Devil was still eating away at him, his insatiable appetite for destruction becoming more and more obvious when day melted into evening. The more that mysterious power he had been sensing for a couple of days lingered, the more restless Devil had become.

"Sorry." he apologized suddenly, catching Kaiya's attention.

"Hm? What for?" she asked.

"That," he replied, pointing to her stitched up arm, "And…well, _that_." he finished pointing to the obvious mark on her neck. Kaiya blinked and turned to look in the mirror before raising an eyebrow. Soon, she broke out into laughter, and then came the confused expression on Jin's face. He was being sincere with his apology the last time he checked.

"Eyebrows, _relax_. Would it make you feel better if I apologized for taking your virginity?" Kaiya laughed, "You know, just so you don't feel so alone on the apology front."

Jin made another face before looking out the window. The last he heard, it was better if the moment was planned and not…spontaneous. Then again, a girlfriend was the least of his concerns so she couldn't fault him for apologizing or anything of the sort.

"C'mon Jin, it's okay really. It happened." Kaiya responded finally, patting his shoulder. Obviously not being able to resist teasing him, she grinned. "Thanks for letting me top by the way."

Very desperate to change the subject, he held up the letter in front of her, "You didn't read it."

Kaiya took it, ripping it open and pulling out the paper inside, "Since it's on your mind so much…"

* * *

"So you're really going to do this? For a time machine?" Miharu questioned her best friend, watching Xiaoyu slip on her cherished light-up bracelets and check to make sure her pigtails were perfect and bouncy. Just a hint of gloss, and she would be ready to either go out on a cosplay themed date or lure fighters into a false sense of security.

"Yes! Mi-chan, this all started because Heihachi threw poor Kazuya off that cliff! Kazuya wouldn't have been so mean now and then I'd be with Jin! The scientist said he could help me if I get the funds for the time machine! Jin won't have to run away anymore and finally…" Xiaoyu trailed off before a dreamy look encompassed her features. Miharu sighed before stuffing her schoolwork into her bag and closing it.

"Why don't you help me out, Mi-chan?" Xiaoyu cut in suddenly, pulling her best friend out of the chair.

"I'm not going to help you find your boyfriend if you can't even help _me_ find one, Xiao!" Miharu protested, glaring. Xiaoyu had already been tugging her out the door and into the warm air and the crowds of busy people. Xiaoyu had been so busy on making Miharu tag along, she wasn't even aware that she made the auburn-haired woman slam into someone and make them spill their coffee.

"Hell!"

Miharu yanked away from Xiaoyu who yelled in protest and turned to look at the person she undoubtedly pissed off. "I'm sorry about that! My friend's being insufferable at the moment!" Xiaoyu had started pulling Miharu along again, yelling meaningless apologies. When the dark haired girl had her mind set on something involving Jin, it wouldn't be switching anywhere else.

"Mi-chan! Let's _gooo_!" Xiaoyu near whined.

"I-If I see you again, I'll buy you another coffee sir!" Miharu apologized quickly, looking over her shoulder a couple more times before being forced to look ahead before Xiaoyu made her trip over something like a rock.

"Tougou, we're going to be late-" Lars started to say before pausing, "What happened? Hole in your bottom lip my friend?"

"You're buying me a new shirt." Tougou snorted, continuing on ahead, "People today, always in a rush…Though I'll hold her to that coffee."

"_Her_?" Lars questioned, his eyebrow raising and a smirk appearing on his lips, "Did you at least get her name?"

By the time Tougou turned around again, the girl was completely out of sight.

* * *

"Mayumi, I will make sure our daughter returns home." Hideki spoke into the phone, "Will you wait for her?"

"What about _you_, Hideki? When will _you_ return home?" Mayumi asked softly, "When will I stop being the only one home?"

"Mayumi…" Hideki began, looking for something to say. She was always the patient and doting wife, and now it seemed as if her patience had been wearing thin. It wasn't a surprise, in fact part of him wondered if she would ever leave and never return. "When this is all over…I'll come back too."

Mayumi sighed, "You and Kaiya are just alike, rushing off at the prospect of saving a friend…a person who may be too far gone."

"If Kaiya is anything like you Mayumi, she will reach her limit and return home. She's nothing like me, she has never forgotten you."

"I hope you're right, Hideki." Mayumi finished and hung up abruptly. Hideki hung up his phone and groaned in frustration. The memory of his conversation with Kazuya sprung to his mind. He had asked the other why he was entering the tournament if he had already killed the people responsible for trying to get rid him. Kazuya mentioned something about a power he could never understand, and how the desire to get rid of his family ran rampant and made his blood cry out for it. The Mishima lived to fight, they lived to fight each other especially. Nothing and no one else mattered and it was as if it was set in stone. Kazuya warned Hideki that if he became an obstacle, he would be taken out.

"Sorry Kazuya, my daughter is of great importance." Hideki mumbled, leaving his office.

* * *

"Alright, so there. I fixed up your bike again." Izumi's tired voice huffed before she revved the engine, the loud sound echoing through the shop and startling some of the nearby customers. Her eyes settled on Baek before she bowed her head, "Please make sure he doesn't total this one too."

Hwoarang muttered some more incoherent Korean as Baek chuckled and nodded his head and accepted Izumi's card. "I'll make sure of it. Thank you for looking after him here in Japan."

"Eh, it's no problem! Can't spend forever fighting, right?" Izumi responded, getting off the bike and gesturing to it. Baek had to do a double take at first; she seemed so tiny, too tiny to be sitting on a monster bike, let alone working with them. Wisely he looked elsewhere when he noticed her eyebrows furrowing and her mouth twisting into a frown—her height was clearly one of those subjects not to be mentioned.

"Thanks again, Squirt!" Hwoarang grinned, getting onto the bike, "I'll be back after I win the tournament!"

"Yeah sure!" Izumi teased, bumping her fist with his, "I'll be watching you get your ass kicked on TV though, so don't fuck up too bad, kay?"

Hwoarang handed the helmet to Baek, and it was time for the older man to give his student another look. There was no way in hell he was getting on that two-wheeled death machine. Not after the last time.

"C'mon! I don't want you to _walk _to the tournament." Hwoarang insisted, frowning. If Baek and Izumi didn't look twice, they would've almost pegged him to be pouting.

"I'm not going to hit a mailbox again! Especially if you stopped pointing out that I was going too fast and stopped being a backseat driver!" the man insisted and Baek shook his head.

"Walking." he responded, heading toward the shop's door. "I'll meet you there."

Hwoarang crossed his arms, watching Baek until he was out of sight. Soon, he leaned against the bike, still thoroughly annoyed. Izumi slapped his shoulder and put her hands on her hips.

"You're not going to really let him walk alone are you? Go with him or something! I'll bring your bike to you." Izumi finished, walking off to get her helmet while muttering.

"Squirt, he's an old man who can take care of himself." Hwoarang started to say, getting off the bike and letting Izumi take his place. Izumi fastened the helmet with ease, nodding her head.

"Yeah, yeah. Go walk with him." she responded, "Directions, give 'em to me."

Soon, Hwoarang watched her speed off before walking out of the shop and catching up to Baek. He appreciated him more than ever before.

* * *

"You never told me what was in the letter." Jin responded to Kaiya as they neared the crowd of tournament participants. Clearly it was a sea of familiar faces, with some new ones speckled in just to keep things fresh and updated. Jin recognized Eddy Gordo and Julia Chang with ease. He could also remember Marshall Law and Paul Phoenix, and the boxer who had gotten into that fiasco with them in the last tournament.

He spied a face he hadn't seen before, a platinum blonde haired woman. Her hair was perfect and straight bangs framing her face, lips and eyelids dusted pink, blue eyes mischievous. Someone never told her about the dress code, because not only did that frilly white dress with a res ascot look out of place, it looked both flimsy and expensive.

Just a few feet away stood a pale faced man in a brown uniform, scar stretching past his lips, black hair pulled back just a bit and his almost zombie like eyes staring into space. He wasn't bothered in the least at the commotion around him, whatever was on his mind being much more important.

"It was nothing important, don't worry yourself. It's time we fix everything, right?" Kaiya replied finally, cracking her knuckles.

"Yes." Jin responded, "At least lie to me and say you'll be careful."

"As you wish, Eyebrows. I, Kaiya Sato will promise to be careful and not the least bit reckless this tournament. Scout's honor." Kaiya grinned.

The commotion had died down instantly when a woman took center stage. Jin had never seen her before, black hair pulled back into a tight bun, royal blue suit form fitting and neatly pressed, black heels commanding respect even if she did look like a random pencil pushing employee at the Mishima Zaibatsu.

"Ladies, Gentlemen…and…animals I suppose," the woman spoke after clearing her throat, "Allow me to welcome you to the King of Iron Fist Tournament! My name is Aishun, and I'm the announcer and hostess of this tournament. Even if Heihachi Mishima is dead, that doesn't mean the Iron Fist tournament dies with him. That'd be rather droll and absolutely no fun at all! Now I bet you're all itching for a good fight, so let's begin! The starting matches were selected randomly, and will go from there! Ooooh it's going to be like reaching into a mixed bag of goodies! You don't know who you're fighting after your first fight! If one of you manages to make it to the final match, your chances of becoming owner of the Mishima Zaibatsu become _thaaat _much more greater!"

The woman continued gallivanting around the stage, stopping once to lean against the podium that had been placed there, "Ohhhh, good luck participants! Now, let the fighting begin!"

As the line up began to be announced, Kaiya turned to look up at Jin who had been watching Aishun all the while. The woman was nothing more than a puppet performing the will of her controller.

"So? What 'cha think?" Kaiya asked finally.

"I'll-"

"JIIIIIIIIIIIIIN!" a voice squealed, prompting Kaiya to cringe a little and try and find the source. Jin already knew who the shrill cry belonged to, but never the less he was still surprised to see Xiaoyu pushing her way through the crowd with gusto as if seeing him was more important than politeness.

"Xiao-" he started to say, turning to face her, still feeling mildly uncomfortable when she all but hugged the living hell out of him. It was nice to see her, yes, but he needed to breathe and remind her that it was still much too dangerous to be here, especially if the benefactor of this tournament had another person act in their place.

"Oh, Jin, I'm _so_ glad you're here!" Xiaoyu began, "I know I wasn't supposed to enter the last tournament, but you sent me that message and I _had_ to! I didn't find you then, but I did now! Don't worry, when I win the tournament and go back in time and fix everything, we'll be toge-"

Jin hadn't been aware that he was mentally praising the gods that she had stopped rambling. It was in Xiaoyu's nature to do so, but sometimes his friend was a whirlwind of nothing but talking and optimism that sometimes when he was with her, it was hard to keep up…and stay ahead because her grip on him was iron clad.

"Oh! Hi! Who're you?" she asked, her eyes falling on an amused Kaiya.

"Kaiya. Knew Eyebrows over here when we were kids." the brown haired woman answered, bowing just a little. She reached up to adjust the tie on her ponytail before dusting off her hands and sparing Jin one more look.

"Well! Looks like I'm taking on some guy with a weird Mohawk. It says he practices Muay Thai. Good luck out there!" she said turning around.

"Remember your promise to me." Jin told her. Of course her promise was a blatant lie, but he was willing to let a small part of him believe she would try and keep it. It had taken him some time to accept it, but Kaiya really made no plans to go anywhere except to places that would help him purge the monster that he didn't wish to embrace and associate himself with anymore.

"Yeah, yeah. Scout's honor and all that. Good luck in your matches Eyebrows!" Kaiya replied, walking off through the crowd, "Remember, if you fight hard, I will too!"

Jin watched until she was out of sight, only brought back to the present by Xiaoyu.

"Jin, why does she call you Eyebrows?" she asked quietly.

"It's…just a term of endearment I suppose." he answered.

"Oh! So…what did she promise you?" Xiaoyu asked, tilting her head.

"That's just between me and her, Xiao." Jin answered in turn.

He really shouldn't have been surprised when she continued with the third degree, even after her match-up against Julia Chang had been announced. With both women gone, it was finally time to get down to business. There wouldn't be any more distractions from here on out.

His eyes fell on Aishun, who had been watching him with an amused smirk before walking off happily.

'**Just a tad closer, Jin.' **Devil remarked idly, happy with Jin's shift in demeanor. **'What, you didn't think I was gone completely did you?'**

'_No, unfortunately. But you will be after this.'_

'**Keep dreaming, boy. By the time this tournament is over, everything I've wanted will be within my reach, and everything shall be molded to my whim. Everything and everyone will know me. Now go, fight toward the power that's been eluding me!'**

* * *

**End Notes**: And there's part Eleven. I hope you've enjoyed it to some extent as I had a little bit of fun writing this. Part Twelve will give us fight times and some kind of tension!


	12. Limpid Luster

**Author's Notes:** I just…wow. There were so many things—lack of interest, lack of love for the Tekken fandom, more personal issues—that kept me from doing this for such a long time. It's never looked like it, but this was one of my pride and joys. Besides, I couldn't sleep because there was a damned house centipede in my bathroom and I didn't kill it, so it's still alive and that's grating. But enough of that, you came for the long owed writing.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Tekken; it's the property of Namco Bandai. I only own my original characters and suing me gets you absolutely nothing.

* * *

Blind Justice

Part Twelve: Limpid Luster

The waterfalls and fireflies lighting the evening weren't the least bit therapeutic, not when Kaiya had to dodge a flurry of speedy and powerful Muay Thai kicks from her opponent. Bruce Irving was stronger than she was, but her reason for fighting in the tournament served as her adrenaline, and that is what overpowered him. Kaiya would not lose here; who lost in their first round anyway? That was lame, and hardly anybody remembered someone for something good when they got knocked out way too early.

"Sorry Mister Irving," Kaiya hissed through clenched teeth as she sidestepped another hard knee attack, "but I'm not gonna lose here."

Window of opportunity open, she performed a strong kick to the side of his head, and when she heard the successful impact, she watched him crumple toward the floor. She followed it up with another kick, kicking the other fighter away from her. He remained still and face down, save for his breathing and the referee stepped in to announce her victory. Kaiya rubbed at her neck for a couple of moments, exhaling audibly and she closed her eyes when a breeze finally whipped through the area, carrying some of the spray from the waterfall over.

She listened to the referee prattle on through an earpiece and soon she began to tune him out, trying to clear her mind but failed. Ever since she read that letter, her father had been in her thoughts much more often, and this in tandem made thoughts of her mother surface too. Her mother moved away from home to be with the other family members, the strain of constantly worrying over Hideki and Kaiya becoming much too intense to deal with alone.

"Once I finish helping Jin, I'll come back, Mother. Promise." Kaiya pledged, before she turned around.

"Promises don't count if you cross your fingers." A voice chided lightly.

Kaiya's eyes narrowed and she clenched both her fists, "Tekken Force…"

* * *

Jin only felt guilty for a span of a couple of moments, knowing he stopped Julia's chance at trying to re-forest her home. If he didn't advance, she really wouldn't have a home to re-forest any longer. She would have to find funding elsewhere for the time being. If he suspected right, she wouldn't let this defeat rattle her, she would only dust herself off and keep going for what she wanted. Jin had only been doing the same; this world would be better without him and his family in it.

The more that decision settled in his mind, the more vicious he became in his fights. He pushed each every one of his opponents to their limits, detaching himself from feeling and waiting until the fight was over. Even then, it steadily became easier to remain numb, cold even. The easier it became, the more Devil wormed its way to the surface, waiting anxiously for the opportune moment to seize Jin and take control again.

'**Just a few more battles. That's all I need. Tell yourself you're in control if that helps, Jin.'**

"I am in control. I will maintain control and I will silence you _completely_." Jin opened his eyes to discover that he was alone on the rooftop, orange sky looming above him. That same unwanted feeling of his control beginning to chip and shatter became much more apparent, and as he waited for silence to reign again he could hear it: a voice.

'_**I will be your savior.'**_

* * *

"This is the third time I've had to deal with you guys," Kaiya spat as she put her hands on her hips, "I'm flattered that the Tekken Force is interested in me, but I can't say you guys had me at that first ass kicking. I'm still pissed you guys got me disqualified."

"Hey, in our defense we were under orders." Tougou replied from behind his helmet, crossing his arms over his chest. "Our attack was to get to Jin. You were necessary bait."

"I think you better start talking or else." Kaiya warned.

"Your involvement with Jin Kazama is of interest to my Lieutenant." Tougou began.

"You mean that guy who tried to keep me holed up in Hon-Maru? If he's got such an interest in Jin, shouldn't he be targeting him?"

"Forgive him, he's a little envious for reasons I don't even know. Besides, the least you could do is tell me why you're so protective of Kazama. I think you owe that to me considering you tried to punch my face in and my Lieutenant almost broke your neck. I saved your life." Tougou countered.

"Heihachi's kicked the bucket, and he isn't the owner of the Mishima Zaibatsu anymore. The Tekken Force isn't really the Tekken Force; it's a bunch of jobless cronies." Kaiya huffed, walking toward the approaching referee, "Who's my next opponent?"

"Hideki Sato." The shorter man responded.

"That's a joke, right?!" Kaiya blurted, grabbing the referee by the collar, "Tell me that's your idea of a joke so I can justify punching the shit out of you!"

"Miss Sato it's not a joke!" the referee stammered, trying to pull himself away from her.

Shoving the referee away, Kaiya abandoned Tougou and sprinted off, swearing loudly.

"Lars owes me _so_ much beer when this is over with." Tougou grumbled.

* * *

Jin had been eerily calm, even as the crowd behind him constantly chanted for the fight to start. His calmness sparked the interest of Devil, who for some reason or another continued to observe instead of imparting his usual savage wisdom on his host. Ever since he had set foot into this underground arena, he had been trying to figure out just what or who that voice was. It wasn't Devil—it didn't sound like him anyhow—it sounded soothing almost, like something in a far off dream that he must have buried away, for he felt he hadn't been necessarily worthy of any good dreams. For every moment he tried to picture a life at ease, it was either Devil or his own reasoning that made him erase said moments as if they had never occurred.

No matter how soothing the voice had been, Jin believed that only he was capable of saving himself. However, the more he tried to stick to that belief, the more Kaiya appeared and made him think otherwise. No one else had been willing to stare into the eyes of Devil and fight as if they were meant to counteract such a foul being just for him. No one else had fought for Jin because he didn't allow them to. He issued Kaiya countless warnings and she continued onward, not because she was a glutton for punishment or because there was personal gain. She continued because she genuinely cared about him, and that left him paralyzed. He still tried to figure out what made her different—he was certain someone as Xiaoyu would have done the same—but decided that overthinking it would do him no good. Kaiya made herself a fixture in his life, a fixture that he had no problems seeing or interacting with.

It was difficult even now to try and picture things without any of her input, or try to snuff out the determination in her eyes. For all of the times Devil had seized control, she knocked him back into hiding long enough for Jin to try and return. The longer this tournament had continued though, the easier it had been for Devil to remain in the forefront of his mind, prominent presence absolutely maddening.

Jin's eyes opened suddenly feeling a shift in the air and he turned to see if his opponent had arrived, but only saw the faces of the rowdy spectators for a couple of moments. And then, he saw her. Jet black hair and those kind brown eyes he remembered vividly on good days.

'_Mother?!_'

He blinked once, and then twice, praying for the image to leave his mind because it would do nothing to help him in this upcoming fight. Part of him wanted to push through the crowd and get closer to her, but he knew she was nothing more than a memory. Why did she appear to him now, when he had hundreds of dreams in which she could have appeared to break the cycle of endless nightmares and forced transformations? This sight angered Jin, and he had been unaware of his clenched teeth and otherwise rigid posture. Was this another trick Devil had been playing? He tried to sift through his mind, willingly looking for the darker entity and almost missing his voice, but he found nothing. This image had been so strong it severed Devil's voice and it left Jin to himself, in a moment of desperately wanted solitude.

"I will be your savior."

Her voice was clear, like she had been right there in front of him. Jin raised his hand when she started to slip through the crowd and out of sight, and when he began to move to go after her, pain shot through his arm and it forced him to stop and shut his eyes and breathe deeply. The pain had left as fast as the image of his mother did, and only the crowd had been there.

"Jiiiiiiiin!"

That voice now belonged to Xiaoyu, and Jin remembered that he was in the middle of a tournament. Of all of the things to happen on top of his Mother appearing before him in a fleeting moment, this tournament has forced him to fight another one of his friends.

"Xiao, this tournament is dangerous! Leave at once!" he commanded. As he expected, Xiaoyu adamantly refused.

"No! If certain things in the past didn't happen, then Grandpa Heihachi wouldn't have had to die like he did. I'm going to turn back the hands of time!" she insisted.

"Don't be an idiot. Time can't be reversed. Heihachi is dead! Whatever is in charge of the Zaibatsu is something far more dangerous than him!" Jin countered quickly. If he was seeing things, then perhaps Xiaoyu had been delusional herself? Turning back time would do absolutely nothing, and Jin preferred a moment in which Heihachi was dead; it was one less family member to concern himself with at this point.

"I'll make everything like it was, Jin!" Xiaoyu protested sincerely, hurt expression on her face, "All of it! Then we could—"

"No!" Jin cut in immediately, "Leave, please!"

Xiaoyu remained quiet, contemplating her next response to him. Her gaze hardened and she dropped into her stance.

"There's only _one_ way I'm leaving, Jin!"

* * *

Kaiya skidded to a stop, acknowledging the referee only once, "Am I late?!"

"No, you're still a contender in this tournament." Was the response.

"Good. Start the match." She commanded, her hazel eyes never leaving Hideki. What was he doing here?! Didn't he have some other issues to take care of, namely issues involving one Kazuya Mishima? Why decide to get involved in this way now? She wanted to ask all of these questions, but her anger forced her to swallow them temporarily as she dropped into her stance.

"Still sloppy." Hideki remarked.

"We all can't be perfect, can we?!" Kaiya snapped, and she ran toward her father the moment the referee gave the green light, "Now get out of my way!"

Hideki was met with blow after blow, all of which he had parried. Kaiya had been fighting with her head and not with her heart, or so he believed. As he shoved her back for what might have been the umpteenth time, she let out a yell of anger, not frustration.

"I will drag you back home!" he told her, watching her recover with ease, her boots kicking up a cloud of dirt, "Your progress ends here."

"The hell it does! Why don't you go back to being Kazuya's lost puppy dog, old man!" Kaiya spat, "That's all you did this entire time, follow after him! You picked up and you left mom behind to try and play God!"

Hideki did not answer her; he only accepted the brunt of her anger, which had been put into every extended punch or kick. He stepped to the side and as she moved past him, he raised his hands.

"My turn." He grunted.

"No," Kaiya growled in response, turning sharply and hitting Hideki in the face with a hard elbow, "I'm not done yet!"

As he hit the ground and the referee moved out of the way, Kaiya turned around again, refusing to leave her stance and Hideki tried his best to hold back a smile. Even as a child, she wouldn't rest until she made herself crystal clear; this time was no different.

"You are nothing but a pawn to Kazuya Mishima! If you die because of him—if you _die_ for him—he won't even care! All he wants is power! Go home to Mom!"

"I will not go home without you," Hideki told her, "That is why I am here now. I know Kazuya cares very little about anyone's well-being, but you are not safe from him, or safe from his family. That family is doomed to fight one another, and they will let everyone and everything else fall to the wayside, you and I included! _We_ are nothing more than pawns."

"No. You're the pawn, Dad! My reason for fighting now isn't just to make you answer for why you've been gone so long!" Kaiya shot back, "There's someone who needs me so much more right now, and if you're still gonna stand in my way old man, then come get some!"

Hideki stood tall, choosing to rush forward, eager to see what his child had learned.

* * *

Jin carefully set an unconscious Xiaoyu against the gate as the referee announced his victory and then promptly paged medical assistance. He didn't bother to count how many times Xiaoyu had been knocked over or smashed into the pavement and precisely got up. In losing himself in the image of his mother, he lost sight of how fast he wanted to end the battle. When Xiaoyu tired of stumbling and missing her target, he could see the hurt in her eyes as she finally collapsed, asking him why.

He didn't have an answer for her, nor did he want to waste time digging up for one that would be passable enough for her and vague enough for him. As the crowd died down and the referee called in to update the brackets, Jin turned to where he had seen his mother. She_ had_ been there, she _spoke_ to him and just like that she was gone. He pinched the bridge of his nose for a moment, thinking that this had continued the decline of his mental health. He had gotten so well at keeping his mother's memory locked away as tightly as he tried to lock Devil's voice away that seeing this too-real image of her had to have meant he had gotten weaker.

He felt even more foolish for going in the direction Jun had gone, his thoughts all his own. How could she possibly save him when she was gone for so long? He kept running until he reached the entrance to this underground arena, and he glanced around for any sign of Jun, but was only met by the glittering stars in the evening sky. This only furthered his unease and he quickly headed off to face his next opponent, trying to reassure himself that she was nothing more than a fleeting image, an image that would do him absolutely no good now.

* * *

"Go home." Kaiya commanded, adjusting her gloves as she towered above a conscious Hideki, "Go home as soon as you're done recuperating."

"My little girl…" Hideki began, smiling weakly, "You haven't changed a bit."

"Whatever. We're done here." Kaiya snorted. After a couple of moments her shoulders slumped and then she sighed as she scratched the back of her head. She had realized that during this fight, there wasn't much to return to. Their mother had left their home to be with relatives—a stable support system—and wouldn't come back until Kaiya and Hideki were home. Mayumi itched for the normalcy she once had, and at times Kaiya missed it. It was nice to wake up to see a mother who loved you and a father who only wanted the best for you. It was just as nice having something different to fight for, however. If Kaiya gave it a bit more thought, this was the first time she ever fought as hard for someone so close to her. Jin had been an old friend first, boyfriend second. He wasn't always entirely broody, he was capable of laughing and smiling; it just seemed that losing his mother triggered a domino effect that made happiness something not worth reaching for. He forced himself into solitude and with justifiable reason: Devil.

'_Volcano Guy has worked up_ such_ a nice track record_.' Kaiya thought to herself.

"Did you not promise that you would return home when I did?" Hideki asked her this time as the medical team helped him stand and lead him toward the waiting truck, "You said you would come back with me."

"Sorry old man, change of plans." Kaiya told him nonchalantly. Hideki said nothing as he carefully stepped into the truck and Kaiya sighed again, put her hands on her hips and turned her gaze skyward. It made her think of home for a couple of moments, and if she looked hard enough she could see some of those made up constellations Mayumi used to point out to her and name. She decided that stargazing would be one of the first things she would do when she got the chance to go home and rest.

"Hey, Ref," she started up again, turning to look at the much shorter man, "Tell me who's next on the chopping block."

"Hwoarang, a practitioner of Taekwondo. A victory against him would mean that your next opponent is—" The referee responded before he was interrupted by the sound of a bike in the distance. Kaiya glanced over her shoulder momentarily, her hazel eyes watching the car that her father was in become smaller and smaller until there had been nothing there any longer. When she turned to look at one of the bikes, she heaved a sigh of relief; her opponent was coming to her for a change, and the fight could get started soon. Her pleased expression faded against when she realized that this Hwoarang guy wasn't the person Jin spoke about. She wouldn't forget the mark of the Tekken Force for as long as she lived.

* * *

The sky had steadily darkened from time to time, but Hwoarang gave it no thought, his mind focused on the opponent in front of him. He had waited for this moment, this battle. Sure he was a little disheartened and even fed up that his last opponent was canned for having a couple of unsanctioned brawls—he had heard she was pretty feisty—but that feeling washed away when he learned that after her, Jin was next. In fact, he couldn't keep from grinning, excitement running wild in those eyes of his. Even though he had beaten his master Baek, he was still excited enough to give the other man a call and tell him that his training and entering this tournament wasn't for naught—it never was—and then take a moment to call Izumi who wished him well in her own way before he sped off.

Most of the people he had chatted with wrote his otherwise intense attachment to Jin off completely. Izumi, his now pseudo boss, made a crack about him carrying a torch of the romantic variety for Kazama before sending those previous well wishes. She and everyone else didn't understand, though. No one had taken the fight to Hwoarang before except Jin. It was so much more than wounded pride. When it boiled down to it, Hwoarang respected Jin; he respected him for his talent, his willpower, his strength, and even if Jin responded very little to him, Hwoarang knew that the sentiment was returned. Jin never came at him half-assed in a fight, and the only difference this time was that there was going to be no kind of draw and Hwoarang was going to walk away the victor.

Although, as they met blow for blow in this otherwise daunting yet enchanted empty field underneath a fading moon, Hwoarang could see that Jin had begun to slack off. There had been this far off look in his brown eyes and everything from his punches to evasions was off, and this infuriated Hwoarang. The Korean had been putting every ounce of his strength into this fight and he expected Jin to do the same. His anger flared because he knew this victory would wind up being hollow and overall nothing to bask in, and in a last ditch effort to get Jin to snap out of it and focus on this fight, he launched Jin skyward with a well-timed and well-honed kick and then watched him hit the floor.

"Dammit Kazama," he seethed audibly as the referee waited for Jin to move and get up, "I'm fighting my ass off and you're not even here!"

Jin's body had not moved, and Hwoarang's anger did not ebb. He kicked at the ground, disturbing the nearby flowers and forcing some of the petals to detach and float upward and away from him, carried off by the gentle breeze. The grass behind Hwoarang rustled, and he refused to turn around because Jin had just given up. The referee declared a knockout and as he ran his fingers through his red hair he kicked at the ground again.

"This blows!" he snorted.

As more petals fell to the floor, the gray clouds effectively smothered the moon completely and that comforting breeze stopped. There had been a rumble of thunder and drops of rain had begun falling. As lightning flashed, Hwoarang turned sharply at the sound of an inhuman roar and ducked a bright red beam before he watched as that laser torched part of the field and left the bare ground visible. Any logical thoughts Hwoarang should have had were kicked right out the door as he watched Jin ascend to the sky, black wings spread wide. The fucker actually grinned at him and Hwoarang glared in response.

"So now you're a sore loser?!" he blurted, his pride still very much at the forefront so he could keep the remaining feelings haphazardly tucked away in the background, "Son of a bitch!"

Jin said nothing, only unleashed another scream and another laser. Hwoarang evaded fast, but the referee wasn't so lucky and was caught and immediately killed. As Jin landed, Hwoarang ran forward, fists clenched, angry yell cutting through the air as the rain began to pour.

"I'll kick your ass even if you've turned into a freak!"

* * *

"Oh come on! You _have to_ be trolling!" Kaiya blurted, looking skyward for a moment, "Why are you jobless guys all over my ass?! What is it this time, o' jobless one?!"

Lars said nothing, he merely spoke to the referee and who straightened his tie and adjusted his microphone.

"You, Kaiya Sato have been kicked from the tournament."

"WHAT?!"

"Unsanctioned Match."

"I'll show you unsanctioned!" Kaiya shouted.

"Now you're just threatening the referee, that's unsportsman-like conduct." Lars pointed out, taunting her.

"Bite me!" Kaiya spat, "You're not the first guy who creeped on my match, _you're_ the guy that tried to keep me stuck to that wall back at Hon Maru! I should let you know now I don't take too kindly to creepers, especially ones that try to kill me and fuck around with my matches! You're making me rack up a shitty tournament track record and that's not cute!"

"I have a name." Lars responded.

"I didn't ask for it. This is obviously _your_ doing, so you too owe me an explanation! What the hell is it that you want from me?" Kaiya demanded to know, staring Lars down, hazel eyes narrowed. He didn't understand it; after years of taking precautionary steps, years of making sure not to allude to anything that made him special, it all came undone. Lars wanted to kill his father, but G Corporation got to him first. He never understood why Heihachi wanted to hurt his grandson—Lars' own half nephew—and use him as a guinea pig. Lars wanted to ask, but years of pent up resentment made him refrain from it. Now, Heihachi was dead, and anything he might have wanted to know about the rest of his family had seemingly gone up in smoke. The only lead left was Jin himself, and before he could get to Jin, he needed to get past Kaiya.

"Jin." He answered finally. Jin was the last link in trying to make heads or tails of the other side of his family, and said link only transformed into a maze that Lars had no clue on how to approach and get through. Would he be just like Heihachi? Would he give Lars any reason at all to not trust him?

Kaiya raised an eyebrow for a moment before she tilted her head, "I'm going to have to pass on giving you my boyfriend."

"Is he worth losing your life?" Lars asked her this time.

"That's pretty heavy, Mister Officer who hasn't bothered to actually tell me his name." Kaiya retorted, annoyed again.

"You didn't ask for it, remember?"

"Ah, point." Kaiya grumbled. "Listen o jobless one, it's not about whether or not Eyebrows is worth me losing my life. There's something more there."

Lars eyed her momentarily from behind his helmet, expression pensive even if she couldn't tell. What was that 'something more?' So far, all he had found out about his family after very minor digging was that they were notorious for being bad apples. Heihachi had done so much for years, Kazuya had been the thorn in the older man's side and was almost killed, and then there was Jin who seemingly hated them both. He was already different, but not enough for Lars to formulate his own concrete assumption. When Lars then added Kaiya into the equation, his curiosity piqued even more. He obviously couldn't ask her outright, it wouldn't get him anywhere. Kaiya had drawn lines between them and Lars was not permitted to cross them, and he suspected that wouldn't be changing. However, she seemed to be an easy one to read; she wasn't as calculating as his relatives seemed. Kaiya easily became the add-on that he was not prepared for, but could get by eventually.

"What are you hiding…" he trailed off before he was interrupted by the boom of thunder. He saw a bright red flash and something churned in his gut. He did not like the way that red light looked; it wasn't a product of the storm, it was something else.

"Fuck…" He heard Kaiya swore and she must have noticed that red light too. She turned to look at him and then behind him, where his bike remained parked. She pushed past him and got on the bike and started it up. "I'm gonna have to borrow this, jobless one!"

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Lars demanded, walking toward her but stopping short when she revved the bike and then sped off.

Almost immediately he paged Tougou, trying to keep his sights on the tail lights of the bike and then the direction she headed off in. It wasn't wise to go toward the ominous red light, but she did it without a second thought and only reinforced why she was so problematic for him. It was just like their first encounter back at the top of the tower when he had been sent to collect her and Jin under orders from Heihachi.

"You rang?" Tougou's voice filtered in through the slight static.

"We have a problem." Lars responded quickly, "I'm sending you my location. I need a ride."

"Didn't you take my bike?"

"Yes, but then she took it and sped off somewhere." Lars told his friend. He heard the annoyed sigh on the other line and he briefly made a note to apologize to his friend for being so careless.

"On my way."

* * *

"My disconnection from you was _highly_ irritating." Devil Jin spoke outloud as his fist smashed into Hwoarang's side, sending the other man sliding across the ground, "Did you think you could shut me out completely?!"

He gave Hwoarang no time to recover as he raised his hand, using his telekinetic powers to pick Hwoarang off the floor. The Korean refused to go down quietly, still very much conscious and swearing through the pain. Even as Jin borderline began pleading for Devil Jin to stop, the demon disobeyed and thought of his host as nothing more than a child who erred in his judgment. Jin had been severed from his voice and his otherwise iron hold on his mind and it didn't sit well with him. When his host then accepted his defeat so casually after having not listened to his voice, Devil Jin seized the moment of vulnerability like he always did.

He would show Jin that they were something to be feared—gods did not make flimsy attachments—and he would do this by killing someone who had even the slightest bit of meaning to him. Had Jin simply listened to him, this wouldn't have happened so soon.

Devil Jin closed his fist, watching as lightning had begun swarming around Hwoarang and he listened as he heard a sickening crunch. He let Hwoarang drop to the floor and inspected his work. Broken bones, bloodied skin, and dying breaths. He couldn't keep himself from grinning even as he heard Jin yelling in the back of his mind again, trying to rally himself for another battle to take control again.

"Don't fight…" Devil Jin continued as he picked Hwoarang up by his skull, looking at the motionless body in front of him, "He will die soon. Your grief will end."

The sound of a bike skidding to a halt reached his ears, but he didn't bother turning to see who it was, for he already knew.

"Don't control Jin like this! Don't warp his drive into something twisted and murderous any more than you already have!" Kaiya growled as she ran across the wet ground and jumped forward in a running kick, letting her boot connect with Devil Jin's spine, intent on breaking it. Any fool with no seasoned fighting skills would have succumbed completely, but because Devil Jin was no mere mortal but a fledgling god, he only dropped Hwoarang's bloodied and broken corpse to the ground. The sound it made was borderline therapeutic for the demon, but a twinge on the inside—a distinct twinge of pain followed by an inward sigh of "I'm sorry" coursed through him, and he was reminded of Jin's presence, that this body was still not his own.

"You always seem to find me, human." Devil Jin observed, amused, even as he heard Hwoarang groan. It was the kind of sound made by a dying man who didn't want to meet his end but had no choice but to accept it.

"You shouldn't be surprised knowing I'm _always_two steps behind you, fucker!" Kaiya hissed this time as lightning flashed in the distance, "Even for you, this is pretty low, messing with an unlikely bond that's stronger than you think."

"Look at you, believing you know Jin." Devil Jin laughed, "Foolish girl!"

"It's not about me knowing Jin! It's about knowing the bond of two good fighters! Jin may have seemed relaxed and uninterested, but I'm gathering Hwoarang meant something to him, especially if you didn't mangle him half as bad as I _know_you could have." Kaiya responded, "All you know is violence and destruction, but you're still held back by Jin!"

Devil Jin's amused expression faded into one of displeasure; he had been around before she was even a thought in this pathetic, hypocrite-infested world. How dare she let words like those come out of her mouth?!

"Watch your tongue!" he hissed back at her.

"Do something about it then! Strike me down!" Kaiya dared, and anger began working its way to the surface inside of Devil Jin as voices howled for him to rip her to shreds and make her unrecognizable to anyone.

"You can't! Because Jin is getting that much closer to controlling you! You still only take advantage when he is exhausted, and you've attempted to turn Jin into a sore loser, something he has never been no matter how much he hated himself!" the woman continued, "Your fight with Hwoarang is done! The benefactor of this tournament is who you're looking for!"

'_Find him. That's who I want, Devil_!' Jin's voice sputtered in his head, '_I…I can't let you hurt Hwoarang anymore!_'

"Your days are still very much numbered." Devil Jin warned before he took to the air and left.

Kaiya let out a frustrated groan before she turned to look at Hwoarang who had still been lying there, chest heaving up and down at a snail's pace. His eyes were hardly open but even then life still steadily left them. She immediately headed to his side, careful with touching him and he seemed to know she was there.

"Shit, you have to hang on okay?!" she stammered as she looked around for any other traces of life that could assist, "I'll get some help!"

When her gaze fell on him again, his mouth opened and he tried to say something, anything. Kaiya heard no sound and she attempted to read his lips.

"Master…Baek…?" she responded slowly before she nodded quickly in understanding. He wanted Baek, so she would do everything she could to find him.

* * *

Lars remained quiet as his foot hit the gas, windshield wipers doing their job of wiping away the water as more figures came into view. At first Lars thought nothing of it because the tournament said two participants, Hwoarang, and Jin Kazama himself were supposed to be fighting. The red lightning however was the first red flag that something was amiss now. The referee regulating the fight hadn't reported in for the past two hours; that was the second red flag. The third red flag came when one of his men who had been surveying the area reported something strange in the air, something he thought was a winged creature.

"Lars, look." Tougou pointed out, "That doesn't look like Jin."

"It's her." Lars remarked, "Put your helmet on."

Tougou chuckled, "We always seem to find her instead of Jin nowadays." he mused, putting on his helmet. "Why we need to hide our faces is beyond me."

"She's never seen our faces; I intend to keep it that way. For now." Lars replied.

"I don't see how you can court her with an intimidating helmet on." Tougou snorted and Lars already knew his best friend was smirking from behind his helmet and that alone made him clench the steering wheel in agitation.

"She's closer to Jin. Closer than I've ever been and that bugs me. She knows things, so she's _useful_." Lars answered.

"Why are you so bent on getting close to Jin?" Tougou asked, and Lars could feel his gaze on him and he chose not to answer after a couple seconds of hesitation.

"What are you hiding, my friend?"

"It's nothing." Lars replied, "Get ready to move."

"Yes, _Lieutenant_." Tougou replied, and by tone alone he knew Tougou was agitated with him. Briefly Lars wondered himself why he couldn't tell Tougou his motives. Tougou was the only one who knew him best, and he should know that his friend wouldn't judge him. But…he couldn't tell him. Not now.

"Tekken Force?! Again?!" Kaiya growled, standing in front of Hwoarang's motionless body, save for the very slow rising and falling of his chest as Lars saw. He wasn't going to last much longer without immediate medical attention, and just because Kaiya had been prepared to do battle didn't mean he was suddenly going to hop up like nothing was wrong.

"I don't have time for this!" she groaned, dropping into her fighting stance as Tougou exited the car first.

"Relax, we don't mean any harm. It just looks like you could use some help!" he began, raising his hands in surrender and gesturing to the fact he was without a weapon. Lars exited the car next and pressed a button on his helmet as he surveyed the scene.

"If you've got help, get it here now!" Kaiya commanded, stepping aside and letting them see the full damage Devil Jin had done to Hwoarang.

"Get the medics." The driver commanded and two more exited the truck with a gurney and carefully placed Hwoarang onto it. With one raise of his hand, he spoke again. "Get him to the hospital immediately!"

"Yes Lieutenant!"

Like that, Hwoarang was being carted off in the truck, leaving Kaiya with both unarmed soldiers.

"See? No harm done, right?" Tougou joked casually.

"Why didn't you go back with them?! I don't need you guys here." Kaiya snorted, turning around.

"The referee. Where is he?" Lars asked.

"Dead, I'm assuming." Kaiya responded.

"The tournament can't progress without a victor, you know that." Lars replied, instinctively going back to tournament protocol because asking about Jin again rested on the tip of his tongue and he sought to refrain from it. "We should call a draw-"

"No." Kaiya interrupted, "Tell the officials that Jin won the round by way of knockout."

"Knockout or massacre?" Tougou joked, and glares from both Lars and Kaiya made him quiet and raise his hands again.

"Done." Lars spoke up.

"Help me find this Baek person, and it'll be like you never tried to kill me on two separate occasions, or fucked up any of my matches." Kaiya said next.

"Consider it done." Lars replied and Tougou merely put his hands on hips and shook his head before calling for another ride.

"Anything to stay in her good graces, hm,_ Lieutenant_?" his friend commented as they all piled into the SUV and headed after the other truck, who was still in sight.

* * *

"It's definitely here, the power that's been eluding me for _so_ long…" Devil Jin spoke, ignoring his host's surprise at the twinge of longing in his voice. Having been so entwined with his host had taken its toll, even more so when said host constantly found the willpower to fight him off. All of that would change; he would defeat whatever other obstacles were in his way, seize what was his and wrap himself up in all of the power entirely.

The sheer amount of power that resonated throughout the ruins of the Mishima Zaibatsu had caused vortexes to appear and swirl around, and Devil Jin could sense something lurking about; something ancient, evil and it was so close he could feel it in the tips of his clawed fingers. His wings spread, shedding a few black feathers and his breath caught in his throat when a vortex swirled by. He cut through it with one single beam and it dissipated and he was taken aback by the lone white feather that seemed to appear in its place.

The air had become uncomfortably cold even for Devil Jin, who normally remained unphased by such minor shifts in climate. It forced him to look around warily and the moment he stopped looking over his shoulder, a woman appeared in front of him. He knew this woman; his host knew this woman. It was not that rowdy human girl but it was a woman who had already been the bane of his existence. She made Devil Jin's stomach turn, his head ache, and she made Jin's voice a prominent one once again. She was the source of his separation from Jin inside his mind, that much Devil Jin deduced. Apprehension, a feeling he had not felt in such a long amount of time was apparent.

"Mother!"

Jun's hand reached toward him and Devil Jin found himself scrambling to create space in between them. She was going to shut him away in the confines of Jin's mind so tightly that he probably would not be able to get out. He'd become a prisoner again for an indefinite length of time, and apprehension shifted into horror upon the realization that Jun had such power. He couldn't react fast enough and the second her hand touched his face it was like he ignited into flames. He felt himself burning away, burning out and back into the confines of Jin's mind, not even strong enough to maintain a hold on Jin. He heard his yell fade and become quieter and then he saw nothing. He could hear nothing except the sounds of his labored breathing; Jin's voice was gone. He was alone, floating there in nothingness because Jun had reduced him something close to just that: nothingness.

Positively convinced he was still alive, still with Jin, he yelled.

"**HE IS MINE**!"

Jin sank to his knees as Jun loomed over him, and as he could hear that voice fade off into the distance he strained his eyes to see in front of him. His mother did not look like a mirage, but he was certain that she was. Her gaze made him think of fonder times, and at the same time it still felt empty and numb.

"Mother."

"There is something far more sinister than the monster inside you."

"What…?"

"I have silenced it for the time being. Something else has awoken…something that could destroy the entire world. Jin, you must put a stop to it by any means necessary."

Jin rose to his feet, multiple questions ready, but Jun had already disappeared. Again he had started to doubt his sanity, but the connection to Devil had once again been severed almost entirely, that dark voice faint as the mark on his arm ached. He was tired and all of this had started to grate on him; now he just wanted everything to be over, and he suspected that it would end once the entity responsible finally appeared as lightning flashed sequentially and less sporadically. His eyebrows rose in surprise when he noted this otherwise demonic figure's appearance; it was his great grandfather. At least it had been to an extent. Whatever Jinpachi was now, it was very much unlike himself or Kazuya; he was another entity entirely.

"And who might you be?" Jinpachi asked, gazing at Jin almost curiously.

"I am Jin Kazama, heir of the Cursed Blood!" Jin answered immediately.

"I see. This might explain why my blood is screaming…to destroy you!" Jinpachi declared and power surged through the Zaibatsu ruins yet again.

"I will deal with this evil presence once and for all!"

"You honestly think you can fight me? Let alone defeat me?" Jinpachi asked, almost amused, but even then Jin could pick up hints of desperation. Had his great grandfather wanted something like this to happen, or had he been just another pawn in their family squabble? In any case, he would end this fight and continue walking forward.

* * *

"Oi," Lars heard Kaiya groan as she leaned against the wall for a couple of seconds before turning to look out the window, "How do I get myself into these things?! Nothing goes the way I intend it to!"

"Such is life," Tougou told her waving a hand. She would have turned to see who it was, but they both looked the same with their helmets on so she must have chosen not to bother. "Nothing really does go the way we want it to."

Kaiya frowned as she watched the dark sky for a moment. Lars guessed that she wanted to be there to help Jin, but had gotten sidetracked by being a Good Samaritan like she had probably been taught to be. She would have been heartless if she left Hwoarang there. He had been inches away from death's door, and the damage had been so severe it was enough to make even him cringe inwardly. Doctors had wheeled him away and as they worked furiously to save his life, Tougou spent quite some time trying to get in touch with Baek, the man Kaiya said Hwoarang asked for. His friend's inquiries lead him to an auto repair shop miles away from this area and to a woman named Izumi.

"So, this means our slate has been wiped clean." Lars reminded her casually. It must have bothered the hell out of Kaiya that they hadn't given her their actual names. She could only call them Lieutenant and Sergeant respectively and Lars for all intents and purposes would make sure that didn't change unless otherwise. She sighed and nodded her head quickly before idly fixing her ponytail and wrapping the ends around her finger.

"Yeah. I guess so." She mumbled.

"…What could possibly be going on over there…" Lars wondered, blue eyes watching the constant lightning strikes and tornado clouds in the distance. No news crew had been able to touch the so-called phenomenon, only make everyone aware that it had been where the Mishima Zaibatsu used to be and Lars assumed that this was with good reason. Whatever had been going on over there was not meant for man to see with his own eyes. Still, since it involved Jin, who through Kazuya, was his half nephew, Lars believed he had a right to know.

"A knockdown drag-out fight that's been brewing for the longest time." Kaiya responded. "If Eyebrows doesn't come back I'm going to be pissed right the hell off!"

"Out of the way!" a loud voice cut through the already frantic air of the hospital, "Where is he?!"

"Izumi, please!" the worried voice of Baek cut in quickly and sternly.

"You're Baek?" Tougou asked, watching as Izumi tried to cut around him and then setting his sights on security who had been tailing the both of them.

"Yes. You were looking for me! Please, tell me that Hwoarang is alright!"

"He's not out of surgery yet," Tougou began, stepping back when Izumi glared at him because that wasn't the answer she was looking for, "The prognosis wasn't good from the beginning…"

"That idiot can't die!" Izumi protested, her hands on her hips, "Augh! He told me he would defeat that Jin Kazama guy and he would come back after he won the tournament!"

Lars and Tougou watched as she grit her teeth for a moment and then they noticed the clear hurt in her eyes as she continued, "He owes me a bike! He…He said he'd be back to work off the debt, that idiot!" The desperation in her voice had been enough to make Tougou look away and Lars clench his fists for a moment. Even Kaiya winced and it was like Izumi had hit all of them; perhaps if they moved faster the damage wouldn't have been extensive and Hwoarang would have been much more responsive.

"This can't be the same guy Hwoarang said he respected! That same guy couldn't possibly do this!" Izumi ranted and Lars watched Kaiya step in front of Tougou.

"Believe me, it wasn't. It wasn't Jin." She reassured the other woman, whose anger was not appeased, "I'll make the one who did this answer to me. Swear it on my life."

"What matters is that you both are here. The doctors are expecting you once they're done with surgery and they should be able to fill you in." Tougou informed them once it looked like Izumi calmed down.

Kaiya fixed her jacket and adjusted her gloves before she wiped some of the dirt from her face, "I'm going."

"Don't be stupid," Lars cut in, "It's far too dangerous." He already knew where she was headed off to, and if no one else could get near those ruins, she didn't stand a chance either.

"You're not my old man, he's resting up somewhere in these rooms probably. I don't have to listen to you! There's no way in hell I'm taking home the award for Shittiest Girlfriend because I let my boyfriend fight whatever has been lurking around by himself. You can stay put if you want to, but I'm not waiting around!"

"You think trying to go after someone who's been extremely careful about staying steps ahead of you is wise?" Lars asked as he stormed after her down the hallway.

"Didn't we have this discussion already?!" Kaiya spat at him as she boarded the elevator, "You wouldn't get any of this!"

"I'm trying to! You just seem completely unwilling to say anything!" Lars countered.

"It's none of your business!" Kaiya retorted as the doors shut.

Lars had no choice but to remain quiet, lest he put himself in the position to tell her his own motives. Kaiya was, despite being a pain in the ass, still very much useful he believed as he let her go.

* * *

Jin watched as what was left of his grandfather withered away. Despite the wails of pain, when they made eye contact, Jinpachi seemed to be grateful. Whatever had possessed him was gone, and it took his great grandfather with him. Jinpachi must have sought peace, not the powers of the Devil and it had served as a brief source of comfort. The blackened skies reverted to a much lighter gray, and the sun fought to cut through the clouds as a welcomed calm washed over Jin.

Things were still now, and again his thoughts were his own. His mother came to him and she told him that there was something darker than what he had just faced, something darker than the beast inside of him. For a moment he didn't understand, nor did he want to believe. Jin wanted to go with the assumption that he was just finally succumbing to madness, but madness didn't silence the voice inside the back of his mind and reduce it to a barely there entity.

Whatever had been stronger than Devil really was a threat to the entire world. _That_ was what had triggered the nightmares that the Devil Gene carried, not the being that possessed Jinpachi. When Jin took that into consideration, he realized that he and Kazuya must have set the monster into motion and the only logical course of action now was to bring it out completely and then effectively get rid of it. Since this monster was startlingly similar to the monster that took control of him, Jin believed that it also thrived off of chaos and misery in abundance.

'_I'm not capable of being the only source of misery to bring this monster out. I'm only one man. But I can get rid of it over time…_' he thought, '_There's only one road I can take now_.'

"Jin!"

Kaiya's voice prompted him to open his eyes, and he spied her standing there, a relieved expression on her face. Although Jin's expression remained stoic, he felt a pang of guilt hit him. Kaiya had fought so hard because she saw the same good in him that his mother did once. She pulled him out from under the weight of his own self-loathing, and loosened the grip he let Devil have. She made him believe that he could purge the evil from within him, and here in this moment, he had decided to tackle what he had brought to the surface.

However, she promised that if he kept fighting, then she would too. Kaiya's presence was no longer this hindrance he usually thought it was; he was thankful she stared down his demons and willingly combatted them alongside him. She had to have thought that this fight meant everything was over and they could go back. Guilt pulled at him, and as she cautiously approached him he realized that he needed to close himself away from her again. Doing this would make her progress amount to nothing now, but he held onto her promise, he held tightly to her words.

Jin decided to etch this moment into his memory when he returned her hug; the smile on her face, the way she relaxed into his arms. He would carry this with him throughout his numbered days.

"Will you continue to walk with me?" he asked her, "Stay with me?"

"You don't have to ask. You know I will. If you keep fighting, then so will I." Kaiya told him. When she smiled it still hurt him because he wasn't sure when he'd see her do that again. She nudged him just a bit, her smile still bright.

"Y'know, you gotta tone down that brooding." She told him before she tugged him toward her and into a kiss. Jin decided again that this moment too would be committed to memory and carried with him.

'_Your forgiveness is the only thing I will want when I reach the end of this road, Kaiya_.'

-End-

* * *

**End Notes:** Goodnight, Sweet Prince known as Blind Justice! No really! I left you alone for quite some time, without closure, and now you have it! Blind Justice, you put me through the ringer. I loved you and I've hated you, but you are my baby and you are done now. To _everyone_ who followed (or pushed me to keep going—I SEE YOU RAZER—), or reviewed, or favorited this story, you have **all of my love and all of my thanks** for sticking around. I didn't think my nifty little story would attract anyone and lo and behold it actually did! Have you guys seen the last of everyone? Nope. There are still so many holes to fill in, but that'll be saved for the sequel. If you somehow decide to stick around, bless your heart for getting on another little roller coaster with me! So long and aideu for now!


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